These Small Hours
by WickedSong
Summary: A series of sometimes-related oneshots about Sam Evans and Mercedes Jones, based on prompts given to me. Latest oneshot - 'A Father's Love.'
1. Love On Top

**Love on Top,**

**Written by WickedSong.**

**Disclaimer/Note : I do not own Glee, FOX does. I also don't own Love on Top by Beyonce. This is a prompt from three people on tumblr (scared-like-me, crazyhead36 and fabunni (who had this headcanon). I hope that you three especially enjoy this and hopefully I've done your headcanon justice, fabunni!**

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><p>It was the early sunlight peeking through the window that woke Mercedes up. She gradually opened her eyes, adjusting to the light, as she was brought out of her post-sleep haze. Yawning she looked down to see a strong arm around her waist. For a second she wondered why but when she looked over to see a sleeping Sam Evans she remembered that he had been at her house the night before. Under normal circumstances she would've panicked and wondered if Sam would be able to jump out of her window in order to leave before her parents found out. However, this wasn't a normal circumstance, her parents being at a dental conference for the weekend and her brother away back to school after visiting the previous week.<p>

That was why Sam was here. He had insisted he come and sit with her so she wouldn't feel lonely and hadn't taken no for an answer.

She had insisted she had been fine alone (because she knew the guys were having a gaming tournament of epic proportions over the weekend) but he had opted out of that and shown up at her door at a quarter past seven, grinning in that charming way that both infuriated her but also made her swoon.

Not that she would ever tell anyone that Sam could make her swoon - especially not the boy in question. He already knew way too much about her.

They had watched movies, including, at his insistence, Avatar. They had talked and fooled around a little, never taking it too far but far enough. She found that after months of being apart, of not knowing whether she was ever going to see him again, she couldn't get enough and neither could he.

That was probably how they had fallen asleep accidentally.

Her phone vibrating beside her bed stopped Mercedes' staring at her boyfriend. She checked her phone to find a message from Kurt. She remembered at that moment Sam was staying with the Hummel-Hudson's while in Lima.

_"Sam never came home last night. Just checking he's with you."_

She wondered what kind of response she could send that would both assure the family that Sam was safe but not imply that they had done anything last night, which they hadn't.

_"Yeah, safe and sound :) Don't tell your dad or Carole!" _

It took Kurt only a minute to text back.

_"Your secret's safe with me ;)"_

She looked down at the phone and knew that he wouldn't say anything. She put the phone again by her bedside, but not before checking the time and seeing that it was almost half past eleven. Realising she had slept in she carefully lifted Sam's arm from around her waist and got out of her bed. She wanted to wake him up but she couldn't bring herself to interrupt his sleep - especially when he had that smile on his face. It must've been a really good dream he was having.

Mercedes didn't have to worry about that for long however when she saw him stirring. He slightly opened his eyes, gave a small smirk which she knew was teasingly aimed in her direction and when he closed them again she shook her head. She picked up a magazine lying on her table and playfully hit him on the shoulder with it.

"OK, I'm up."

"You'd better be."

He sighed deeply as he sat up on the bed, one arm holding him up. "Why'd you get up?"

"Because it's nearly midday and we've been in bed all morning." The smile he gave in reply to this was enough to make her blush. She didn't hit him on the shoulder with the magazine again but pointed it at him, all the while giving a playful smile. "Get your mind out of the gutter and back to this planet please."

"Oh come on," he replied. "It's not like we did anything."

"Not the point," Mercedes said back, sitting back on the bed. When she did so he put his arms around her and kissed the top of her head lightly. "Kurt texted me. You shouldn't be falling asleep here."

Sam gave a light chuckle but didn't reply.

Mercedes got out of his embrace and stood up, walking over to her iPod dock. The way she started every day was by listening to music while getting ready. It was a daily routine and not one she was about to change. Not that Sam would've minded.

Beyonce's _Love On Top _began playing from the speaker's and Mercedes turned to see Sam sitting up, his arms folded over his Jurassic Park T-shirt which he had fell asleep in and he smirked.

"What's that look for?"

"Because you're already dancing to this."

Mercedes suddenly realised that she had been subconciously dancing around the room when the song came on.

She started to sing along with the music, staring directly at Sam, not concerned with making a fool out of herself, as she did her own variation of the dance in the music video.

_"Honey, honey, I can see the stars all the way from here, can't you see the glow on the window pane, I can feel the sun whenver you're near, everytime you touch me, I just melt away."_

Flirtatiously she sidled over to her boyfriend, who was on the edge of the bed. She put his face in her hands and serenaded him with the words which did remind her of their relationship, teasing him, as she had with the tinsel all the way back in December. Only this time she wasn't fighting it. Well, she could still tease. Just as she went in for a kiss she pulled away with a small smile. He replied to this with a disappointed pout.

_"Now everybody asks me why I'm smiling from ear to ear, but I know, nothing's perfect, but it's worth it after fighting through my fears and finally you put me first."_

_"You're the one I love, you're the one I need, you're the only one I see, come on baby it's you, you're the one that gives your all, you're the one I can always call, when I need you everything stops, finally you put my love on top."_

Pointing to him Mercedes belted out the lyrics all the while dancing around her room. Sam only watched her with happiness shining in his eyes and adoration at the girl in front of him. He could only count his blessings that he could be so lucky. He watched as she danced around in her shorts and pajama top with the word 'Diva' emblazoned over it and chuckled as she imitated the dance moves, thanking God, as she did so. It was moments like this that he had missed when they had been apart.

_Ooh! Come on baby, you put my love on top, top, top, top, top, you put my love on top, oh oooh! Come on baby, you put my love on top, top, top, top, top, my love on top, my love on top."_

Mercedes pulled Sam up from the bed, grabbing his hand, silently asking him to dance with, a question that he also silently responded to, putting an arm around her waist and she put hers around his neck. They danced around the room, laughing wildly as they did so, especially when Sam himself tried to do the dance and failed at it. Mercedes smiled as she sang the rest of the song, laughing when he did so.

_Baby, 'cause you're the one that I love, baby you're the one that I need, you're the only one I see, baby, baby, it's you, you're the one that gives your all, you're the one I always call, when I need you everything stops, finally you put my love on top."_

Sam laughed, as he fell back on the bed. "You know I love you right?"

He said it so casually that Mercedes was taken slightly aback but she smiled and nodded her head, knowing that he was telling the truth, just by the look in his eyes. She titled her head coyly replied with, "I love you too," and walked towards him, as she had while singing the song but instead of pulling away just before they kissed she went for it, feeling his full lips upon hers, and the usual sense of bliss that always happened when they kissed. Cliche as it was it was like fireworks but more, it was like forever.

_Well_, she thought, as Sam returned the kiss with intensity and they fumbled back on her bed, _maybe Kurt could cover for them...just for a couple more hours._

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><p><strong>And there you have it. My first true attempt at fluff. I know I put cute parts in my other stories but I have never done a oneshot that is entirely composed of fluff! I kinda loved writing it (I don't think I'm good at writing it) but I enjoyed writing it.<strong>

**I'd consider making this a Samcedes prompt story if anyone is interested and wants to give me more prompts. If you are, go to my ask box on tumblr (I am WickedSong), or just PM me, or even leave it in a review if you want to. But only if people want it. If not, it works as a oneshot.**

**Hopefully, the three who requested this (scared-like-me, crazyhead36 and fabunni) all enjoyed it! I really tried!**

**WickedSong x**


	2. In The Rain

**In The Rain,**

**Written by WickedSong.**

**Disclaimer/Note : In the previous chapter. So this has officially become a prompt story. I have written the Samcedes reunion in many different ways but one of my tumblr buddies, basicallyrunalways, has demanded that I do so in this way. So this prompt is essentially from her. Slightly inspired by **_**The Notebook (**_**just as you wished for**_**)**_**, here it is. Hope you enjoy! Sort of AU because I know Samcedes didn't reunite here, but work with me a little, eh?**

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><p>"Are you <em>going <em>to listen to me!" Mercedes demanded this as she pushed open the door, and followed Sam, stopping just before she could feel the rain pouring down.

Sam turned around, shaking his head. He stood in the middle of the parking lot while she faced him, standing under a shelter area at the entrance of the hall. "What is there to talk about? How you handed my heart to me? I have no choice. You have it, I can't take it back!"

Mercedes wasn't willing to take this from him and stood her ground, even though the last place she wanted to be was here, while she was finally forced to have this talk with Sam. He had left the green room as mounting nerves and tension over all that had occurred in the past week had begun to take their toll. She had followed him and attempted to some sort of small talk but he had refused to listen to her, stating he needed time on his own before the results were announced.

Time on his own that he apparently thought he'd be able to find in the car park while the rain lashed down. Well, she wasn't going to let this go. They'd have to have this talk eventually and why not now?

While his expression said that he could care less about their current situation, that he could deal with it, she knew him better than that. "Well then shouldn't we talk about it?" She had been trying to keep her voice even, calm, but he was continuing to test her patience. "About us."

"Again, what is there? A summer fling. I understand that now, thank you very much."

Now she was angry. "Don't you turn that around on me!" He began to walk away from her, trudging down the parking lot, hands in his pockets. "Where are you going? We're getting the results soon." He continued walking and she raised her voice, making doubly sure that he could hear her. "Fine, walk out on the team, Sam Evans, walk out, because that's what you do, that's what we do, we walk away from what's worth fighting for!"

"You mean us? You mean we walk away from us?" he asked, not turning around but his voice loud enough for her to hear. That was when he turned around and looked at her.

"I was talking about the-"

"Us. You meant us." Turning around, Sam walked up to her, but not too close, and she remained under shelter. "You know I had no choice. If I could've I would've stayed but no, you're intent on blaming me for that."

"Of course I don't blame you!" she retorted. "I just-I just blame everything." She bit her lip nervously as she looked up. "Come inside, Sam, we can talk there. You'll get sick."

He shrugged and even did a twirl in the rain. "Seems like I don't give a rat's ass about that, huh? We can talk out here."

"Sam, you're going to-"

"Come on, tell me what you really blame me for?" He held his arms out as if he was ready for whatever she was going to throw his way.

Fighting an internal battle with herself that seemed to last hours, Mercedes looked straight at him. "I waited for you. For months. A call, an e-mail, a message, anything. But nothing ever came, Sam. And then Shane did. Shane did and it was almost all okay until that video-

"We decided on a clean break. You said you wanted that and I agreed that it was for the best. I apologise for the fact that I can't read your mind!" Sam interrupted her before she could finish.

Mercedes lightly hit her hand off the pillar beside her in frustration, willing him to hear her, hear what she was saying. "I wanted you to fight for us! I wanted you to see that video with Jacob and say _something_, _anything_, but _nothing_." Shaking her head she could feel tears prickle the back of her eyes but she fought them valiantly. "I know it's unreasonable and stupid of me to believe you would, that you thought you could but I thought we were-we were strong enough for you to-"

"What if I wanted you to fight for us?"

"I wanted to, but I just-I just wanted you to-"

"To what? To just show up one day!"

"You did! In the hallway when you held my hand." She couldn't resist the smile when she remembered that day but she quickly wiped it off her face as she remembered it was now February and it had been a week since she had broken both their hearts. She knew it was no longer that December day, just before Sectionals, when he held her hand and her heart did that little leap inside her chest. Quietly she added, "You were just a little late."

"Don't you think I know that? And then Michael week went and messed everything up." As if it were the source of all his problems, Sam kicked a nearby puddle but all that did was soak him even further.

"Are you trying to make yourself sick?" Her tone was lighter than before, but she still sounded irritated at how irresponsible he was being as her concern also overtook her.

Again he shrugged. The air of indifference was unmistakable. He gave a wry chuckle. "If only the rain could wash it all away. Maybe my family's situation, Kentucky, that kiss, last week..."

"Would you really do it differently?"

He had to think that one through. No matter what everything had led to her. And that kiss. He'd always hate that he did to Shane what had happened to himself last year but he would never - _could never_ - regret it. The consequences - how badly it affected the girl in front of him, the girl he loved, himself and what they were - but never the actual kiss. It was bliss. Short and chaste but bliss regardless.

"No, I'm sorry, not the kiss, never." Smiling as if sharing an inside joke with himself his tone sounded much softer than it had been, "If that was the last time I was ever going to feel your lips on mine then I would take it, every time, consequences be damned." Looking at her he realised that he had to know now too. "Would you?"

Wringing her hands together, Mercedes shook her head but then nodded. "The situation it happened in, definitely, but no, because it was the first time since you left that _everything_ felt right, like it all just sort of fell into place."

He took a tentative step forward. "Then why can't we get to that place again?"

It was her turn to wish the rain could just wash every mistake away. "Because I did a bad thing. I was selfish and hurt a good guy."

"It wasn't just you. I did it too. I will always wonder why Shane hasn't come up and given me a black eye yet because I deserve it-"

"Sam-"

"No, this is important, Mercedes!" He stopped walking and held his hands up. "You are not the only person responsible here. I am too. I kissed you, I pursued you, fully aware you were with another guy and I messed everything up by asking you to sing with me. If that hadn't happened then maybe we wouldn't be out here!"

"Maybe." She shook her head. "Maybe trying to talk was a mistake. Maybe it really is over." And now she was sure she was crying. _Great_, was all she could think, _just great_.

As if daring him to prove her wrong she didn't move, but neither did he. She guessed that meant she was correct.

Until he was in front of her, moving a stray strand of hair out of her eyes and gently cupping her face in his hands. "Don't you know by now? It wasn't over...it still isn't."

He was soaking wet and would probably pay with a cold from hell later but right now, he was kissing her and it felt so _right_. It wasn't forced, she didn't have to try and enjoy the feel of his lips on hers. It was natural. Like everything just sort of clicked for a moment.

And for him it was bliss again, but this time a longer bliss, something akin to heaven because this was what heaven was, right? Their lips moving together, her running her hands through his dirty blonde locks, his hands on her waist, locked in this embrace, neither wishing to let go.

And the rain, only the resounding sound that told them that no matter what, they wouldn't change a moment that had led them to this moment.

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><p><strong>And there is attempt number (I don't even know anymore) at a Samcedes reunion from me. But this was a prompt and actually something that I've been wanting to do for a while. I realised I hadn't actually written them have it out properly and then reuniting. As much as I like chill and rational, I am like Rachel Berry in that I like the theatrics of it all every once and a while.<strong>

**So this is now a prompt story. Have something you'd like to see from me that you haven't before? Leave me a PM, leave it in a review, message me at tumblr (I am WickedSong) and I will see what I can do for you.**

**And basicallyrunalways, hope you enjoyed this! I know you like your rain-reunions, dear!**

**WickedSong x**


	3. Not A Couple

**Not A Couple,**

**Written by WickedSong.**

**Disclaimer/Note : In the first chapter. This is for an anon on tumblr, so hopefully you find this story, who asked for Samcedes during senior skip day, who were still apart but acting like a couple and irritating the rest of ND with their antics. Oh, and this sort of references the tilt-a-whirl/Finchel section of my oneshot, Worst Kept Secret (not a part of this story) so if you want go and have a quick read of that section if you get confused when it's mentioned.**

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><p>"Could you two please just get a room already?" Santana folded her arms, cocked her head to the side and smirked, as the rest of the New Directions also turned their eyes to the target of her comment. Or more accurately <em>targets<em>,as an embarrassed Sam and Mercedes jumped away from each other. Where there had been mere inches between them, now the distance was evident.

Santana laughed and even though both Sam and Mercedes were glaring at her, she shrugged with an expression that said she didn't care. She then went to link pinkies with Brittany, the blonde Cheerio, smiling widely as the two walked away from the assembled group.

The rest of the group went their own separate ways, all giving their own subtle looks to the former couple.

Sam turned to her. "Trust Santana to say that, huh?"

Mercedes shrugged. "Let her have her fun." Giving a small smile, she nodded her head towards one of the rides which Tina and Mike had just joined the line for. "Why don't we go have some? It is Senior Skip Day after all. May as well make it worth it."

While some awkwardness still presented itself in their relationship the pair were making strides towards something which resembled friendship. Both were still wary and it hadn't even been until Quinn's accident when they had had their first proper conversation since Valentine's Day but it was a start.

"I'll race you to the line?"

"Race me? You think you'll-"

He didn't let her finish before he had sprinted towards the rollercoaster line, leaving a gobsmacked Mercedes to run after him. By the time she caught up with him he was already in line, behind Tina and Mike, who were laughing as Sam did a victory dance on the spot.

"I won, I won!" he cheered, jumping up and down, as Mercedes gave him a glare.

"You won because you cheated," she pointed out, as she shook her head at him. "It wasn't a fair race."

"And even then I'd still win," he replied, teasing laced in his tone.

"In your dreams, Evans," Mercedes answered, folding her arms and standing beside him. They stood in silence for a moment until Tina and Mike turned around, looked at them and then back to each other, rolling their eyes. Mike muttered something under his breath and Tina giggled, playfully hitting him on the shoulder, telling him to be quiet, before she gave another covert look back.

Or as covert as Tina could be. She was practically burning a hole in them with the intense look she gave for a second before turning back.

"What are you two laughing about?" demanded Sam, obviously not appreciating being outside of the joke, especially since it appeared he and Mercedes were the focus of it.

Mike shook his head and then looked down. Sam followed his gaze, as did an equally as intrigued Mercedes and both were shocked to find they were holding hands. There was a moment of awkward mumbling before they let go of each others' hands and then looked away from each other, as if that could just erase the fact that they had literally been pulled towards one another.

Tina turned around to say something but bit her tongue at the pleading look Mercedes gave her. However this didn't deter Mike.

"Invisible tethers, eh? Can't live with them, can't live without them." He shrugged, even though Mercedes was glaring at him, her arms folded and Sam was giving him a look that was pleading with him to shut up.

Mercedes and Sam went to look at each other again and Mike once again also rolled his eyes at the obvious way in which they were trying to now dance around one another. Their attempts at trying not to be a couple were a disaster and as cute and endearing as they were they were obviously failing.

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><p>"You two <em>are <em>sucha couple!"

Sugar's loud outburst caused Sam to wince and look to Mercedes who had her head in her hands. The two had met up with Sugar, Rory, Blaine and Kurt to have something to eat in the park and this had led to the conversation being brought quickly to the questionable relationship status of Sam and Mercedes.

"Why are you guys even here? You're not seniors," Sam whispered to Rory. He was sitting beside the Irish boy, who sat next to Sugar, who was seated next to Mercedes, in their attempt to avoid a repeat of the accidental hand holding incident earlier on that day. Mike had still been making subtle comments about that as they left the ride they had been on and so Tina had pulled him away and nodded to Mercedes that she and Sam should go the other way.

Rory shrugged. "To be honest, I don't even know. Sugar's here, so are Blaine and Tina. I figured what the hell?"

Sam gave him a look that said 'fair enough' but that still didn't stop an excitable Sugar from speaking. "Santana was so right this morning. You two really should get a room."

How they had even got onto this topic was a mystery to Mercedes who was attempting to use telepathy of some sort to get Kurt, who sat beside her, to change the conversation. While his face said that Sugar was right he smiled and nodded.

"Blaine and I saw some guy selling uh-some-uh-" Looking to his boyfriend, Kurt attempted to think of some excuse, giving Blaine an indication that he would appreciate some help in this matter.

Blaine nodded and jumped in quickly, and without even thinking, added, "-balloon animals."

The five looked to the boy who shrugged, obviously regretting what he had just said.

Sugar grinned and pulled Rory up. Wordlessly the couple walked away, Sugar skipping and Rory seemingly so infected by her good mood that he joined her.

"I can't believe she fell for that," Sam commented, and Mercedes nodded.

"I know." She laughed and then looked to Blaine. "Thank you for balloon animals."

Blaine gave a mock bow in her direction.

"Well, Rory does seem quite taken with her," admitted Kurt as he watched the two run off. He shrugged and then stood up, holding his hand out to Blaine. "Come on, you promised you'd ride the rollercoaster with me."

"Because you're scared."

Kurt tried to deny this but the two continued playfully arguing over whether Kurt was scared or not as they walked towards the ride.

Once their conversation died down, Sam and Mercedes were left awkwardly sitting at the table. Sam went to stand and held out his hand, before quickly retracting it, remembering that they were not a couple. It was actually scary how many times he had to remind himself of that fact. But before Mercedes could join him, Brittany and Santana had plopped down beside them.

"What do we have here? People who deny their feelings?" Santana turned to Brittany. "A common species or what, huh, Britt?"

The blonde smiled and nodded. "Especially those two."

"What do you want, Santana?" Sam asked, sighing and sitting down.

Santana leaned back. "For you two to be honest with each other. I take great pride in keeping it real, just trying to make sure others follow my impeccable example."

"We're fine, Santana," replied Mercedes, willing her to stop speaking but Brittany jumped in on the conversation quickly.

"Tina and Mike said you were holding hands in line for the Ferris wheel. You couldn't stop staring at each other when you were having lunch just there, Rachel and Finn said they heard you flirting in line at the tilt-a-whirl-"

"-And he said he was going to have flashbacks for weeks, whatever that means-"

"-even though you never went on for whatever reason and you could hardly bear to be apart from each other this morning before we all split up."

"What are you trying to do?" Sam questioned.

"You're irritating the hell out of me!" Santana snapped. "Irritating all of us with this back and forth." Santana shook her head and shrugged, taking a deep breath to hide her annoyance. "You know what? I'm not spending my Senior Skip Day fixing this. You'll come to your senses eventually, but please, when you do, book yourselves that room."

The two left and Sam went to stand up, this time remembering not to hold his hand out for her. Old habits, he guessed. "Come on, we didn't go on the tilt-a-whirl."

Mercedes smiled. "About what Santana said-"

"We don't have to talk about it today." Sam smiled. "Like she said, we don't have to fix this on Skip Day."

They smiled at one another and there was that unspoken agreement that even though they weren't talking about it now, they would very soon. Very soon they would both be ready to start again; together. It would just take a little time. They walked the path to the tilt-a-whirl, and the hustle and bustle of the park led to their close proximity but neither of them really cared nor minded when they found that, somehow, they were walking hand in hand again.

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><p><strong>To the person who asked for this, I hope you enjoyed. I found it was a really hard one for me to write and I don't like it all that much but oh well, you win some, you lose some. The lateness is something I apologise for as well. I don't really get a chance to write until the weekends, sorry. <strong>

**Although now it's the spring holidays so if you want to leave me a prompt, in a review, a PM or a message on tumblr just do so and I will see what I can do :)**

**WickedSong x**


	4. Thank You

**Thank You,  
><strong>

**Written by WickedSong.**

**Disclaimer/Note : In the first chapter. This was a prompt from roojieq on tumblr, where she asked for when the girls joined the football team and Sam trying to protect Mercedes from getting hurt so even though I have little knowledge of American football, I did with it what I could. I actually like how it came out a lot more than I originally did so that's a plus. Hope you enjoy, roojieq! :)**

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><p>Scanning the hallway, Sam looked around until he finally saw her standing at her locker, placing books into it and taking others out. Nervously he walked up to her, hoping that this conversation would go smoothly. While there had been initial relief at having enough players for the State Championship game at the weekend the guys had quickly changed their tune when they began to discuss it in the locker room the previous day. It wasn't that they didn't want the girls to do it - it was just that most of them hadn't played football before and they were concerned for their safety. Mike had said he would talk to Tina, Puck had jumped at the chance to discuss it with Lauren (but Sam was sure that trying to stop her playing football wasn't the first, second or <em>third <em>thing on his mind) while Finn been adamant in trying to disuade Rachel. Sam had been nominated to speak to Mercedes.

"Hey, Mercedes!" he called down the hall and she turned her head and gave a slight smile to him as he walked towards her. Her smile changed to confusion and she tilted her head curiously at him.

"What do you want?"

Could he blame her for the quick questioning? They had never had a conversation of significance since he had came to the school or joined the glee club and now he was greeting her as if she was one of his oldest friends. He would have been suspicious of his motives too had he been in her position.

Leaning against the locker beside hers he looked down at his hands, not understanding why he was so nervous. "I just wanted to talk to you about you and the girls joining the football team-"

"Yeah well, it's the right thing to do."

"It's just the guys and I were talking and we were thinking that you all shouldn't play. You might get hurt." He smiled at her quickly making eye contact and he was unsure of what her reaction would be as she processed his words. Maybe she would ok with-

The locker door slamming made him jump and stand upright, his eyes now glued to the floor. _Damn, _was his first thought and it was his second, third and fourth, a chorus of, _damn, damn, damn. _Even the idea of trying to look up and say something seemed stupid now. Why had he let Finn talk him into this? He barely knew Mercedes and now he was telling her not to play football. What right did he have? He decided that he would kick Finn's stupid ass if it was the last thing he did.

"So just because I'm a _girl_, I can't play football?" she demanded, one hand on her locker door and her books in the other. "I have an older brother, I have at least some idea of what I'm meant to do."

"We just-"

"No, no," she interrupted, her anger building quickly. "What were you expecting? A thank you for saving me from danger?" This was said in a mocking tone and she put a hand to her forehead, imitating a typical damsel in distress. "And what time machine did you take? And no, I don't mean back to the Middle Ages with how misogynistic you're being. I mean back to glee club yesterday, when you said the exact same things and we told you our plan? Or did you just forget that, huh?" Her tone was even more demanding now.

Sam ran a hand through his dyed blonde hair and finally decided to look at her weakly. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, ok. Just forget that I said anything."

She nodded curtly. "I will." With a shake of her head she turned and walked away.

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><p>"You're an idiot!"<p>

"I'll take that as a thank you, so you're welcome."

Mike and Puck eased Sam down on the bench and he muttered his thank yous to them as he looked down at the gash on his leg. He had been further down the field when he had noticed that one of the guys from the other team was charging for Mike, who had the ball. All the girls were on the ground as per their on-going plan but Sam had caught sight of Mercedes right in the middle of the guys path. And he was 99% sure that the other guy was too determined to slow down.

What forced him to it, he didn't know but he ran in the opposite direction and in the collision with the boy from the other team, had found the cut on his leg, not serious but painful enough that he needed assistance off the ground and to the bench. The only good point had been that Mike had been able to score a touchdown.

His eyes were closed as someone cleaned his leg off - _it stung like hell_ - and was surprised when he opened his eyes to see it was Mercedes, shaking her head and muttering things as she dabbed at the cut. Sam looked at her, head titled, confused, momentarily forgetting how much it stung until she dabbed at it again. "What are you doing?" he asked through gritted teeth.

She looked up at him with a smirk. "I told you, I have an older brother. I must say, you are a bigger baby than him."

Sam folded his arms. "You don't," he grimaced as the sting continued, "have to do that."

Obviously ignoring him, Mercedes continued for a few moments longer and then stood up, passing what she had used to the medical staff who stood by the side. "There, good as new."

Sam looked up at her gratefully and gave a smile. "I _am_ an idiot, thank you. Also, I'm sorry for the other day. I was being-"

She shook her head. "I know, I know." She gave a reassuring smile. "Plus, I think you know now I can handle myself but that could've been me," she gestured to his leg, "so..."

"So?"

She couldn't reply as Quinn flew through the other players and hugged Sam tightly, asking if he was okay and then grinning at Mercedes when he told her about her help. She mouthed a quick thank you and Mercedes nodded, feeling oddly put out now that Sam had his perfect blonde cheerleader girlfriend in his arms again. _So that's where Finn went to_, Mercedes thought. She shook her head. That was a terrible thing to think about _Quinn_, of all people. She wished it was another nameless Cheerio, then it'd be easier to feel-

_Jealous_?

Mercedes quickly rid herself of the thought as she went with the other glee girls to get ready for the half-time show. As she went to walk away she caught Sam's eye, and mouthed a quick 'thank you' to him as she did so. He nodded, mouthing 'you're welcome' back to her, with a gleam in those green eyes.

Damn her if she would let those green eyes affect her, but unknowingly, maybe they already were.

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><p><strong>So thoughts? And to roojieq, I hope that fulfilled your prompt well, even with my awkward explanations of the game. That's why it doesn't feature in this. I barely know how people play football here (for most of you, that's probably soccer) so I did my best.<strong>

**And if anyone else has any prompts for me, just PM me, leave it in a review or message me on tumblr at wickedsong. tumblr. com (no spaces).**

**Thank you very much,**

**WickedSong.**


	5. Things That Matter

**Things That Matter,**

**Written by WickedSong.**

**Disclaimer : In the first chapter. This is for an anon on tumblr who asked for simply a Samcedes family fic so I hope, if you read this, that this fulfills what you wanted :) Also, this particular oneshot was inspired by the first verse of the song Things That Matter by the Rascal Flatts, and the title was obviously taken from there as well so I don't own that.**

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><p>The giggles of his six year old daughter was music to the ears of one Sam Evans as he walked through the door. A smile immediately graced his features and all thoughts of how terrible his day at the office had been exited his mind, as he could hear the excited murmurs of his little girl. He shrugged his jacket off, hung it on the hook by the door, put his keys on the table in the hallway, and poked his head round the doorway.<p>

"Wow, mommy, you looked like a real life princess." Sam softly chuckled at the wide-eyed wonder, little Hayley Evans wore as she and Mercedes thumbed through what looked like an old photo album. "And daddy was your Prince Charming?"

Mercedes stared fondly at their daughter and nodded, kissing the top of her head and then nodding. "Daddy was Prince Charming."

Hayley giggled even more and looked at the other pictures, Sam lightly tapping the door. "Now, what's goin' on in here?"

"Daddy!" All thoughts of the photo album lay to one side as the girl basically jumped up off the couch and ran to the door, straight into her father's waiting arms, as he scooped her up and twirled her around. She threw her arms around him.

"I thought I heard you," commented Mercedes with a smile as she witnessed the scene. She closed the photo album and stood up, walking towards her husband and daughter. "We were just looking at some old pictures, right Hayley?"

Hayley nodded fiercely, and Sam would never get over just how much she looked like her mother in that moment, with her dark curls bouncing up and down and her brown eyes full of that same wonder he had noticed when he had been peeking in. "So you saw daddy before he was an old man?"

The six year old laughed this off. "Silly daddy!" she exclaimed. "You're not old!"

"Not yet," Mercedes said with a pointed look and Sam gave her a look of mock offense.

"If I'm getting older, then so are you," he pointed out and she shook her head, laughing as she did so, a sound that never ceased to bring a smile to his face. It was yet another thing that their daughter had inherited from her. He looked to Hayley who watched her parents' exchange with a smile. "And so are you!" he said, tickling her quickly, an action which caused her to smile and laugh even more.

He placed her down on the ground and this caused her to zoom off into the other room.

"So how was your day?"

"Stressful," replied Sam. "All these deadlines, contracts, you know the usual."

Mercedes smiled understanding, nodding her head. She had had the day off from recording and had been able to spend it with Hayley, while their older son, Jason, who was eight was having a day out with his Uncle Stevie - now known as Steven to most people except close family who had never let go of the nickname - who had come into town unexpectantly. She didn't bring up Sam's work again, seeing that as soon as he had walked through the door and embraced his daughter it had all sort of slipped away, and that the time for him to worry and confide in her would be later.

"By the way, when did your brother say-"

A knock on the door interrupted her question. Hayley, who had been looking out of the window jumped up and down. "Uncle Stevie! Jason!"

"I guess that answers my question," Mercedes replied with a smile as she went to the door, with Hayley holding her hand, excited to see her older brother. The little girl was a bundle of energy, easily excitable, with a determination that Mercedes was sure would one day rival or even overtake Sam's.

When she opened the door she looked at her brother-in-law with a confused expression. "You know you can just come in, right?"

Stevie shrugged and then walked in with his nephew beside him. Sam walked into the hallway and exchanged a quick hug with his brother, before scooping Jason into a hug, even though the boy would argue that he was far too old for such a thing.

"Put me down, dad, put me down," he demanded but Sam didn't relent until a couple of moments later when he placed Jason back on the ground, ruffling his hair as his son turned to Mercedes. "Uncle Stevie took me to the movies! And then for ice cream! Thanks!" And again, being far too old for hugs, Jason held his hand out to his uncle, who in true Evans fashion, hugged the boy, despite his protests.

Jason shook his head while Mercedes laughed, along with Sam as Hayley demanded a hug from her uncle, holding her arms out until Stevie complied and gave her a quick snuggle, before setting her back on the ground.

"I'm in a bit of a hurry," he explained quickly and after a quick round of goodbyes he quickly left the house.

"Guess what Jason!" Hayley said excitably. "Me and mommy were looking at old pictures, and there was one of you as a baby and you were so small." She made a small noise akin to a squeak and Jason smiled at her, holding his hand out to her.

"Show me?" he asked with a toothy grin and his younger sister agreed, taking his hand and dragging him to the living room.

Sam and Mercedes watched from the door as their daughter opened the big book on her lap, at the page she and Mercedes had been on.

"Oh, oh, this is mommy and daddy as a princess and prince!" Hayley said, as if she'd just remembered it, pointing happily and Jason nodded his head enthusastically.

"Ahh yes, Prince Charming?" Sam whispered, and Mercedes shook her head at him.

"Heaven forbid that boost your ego," she whispered back. He put an arm around her shoulders and she leaned into him, content with the moment of watching their children interact happily and carefree before an argument - which with two kids looking at the one book was inevitable - could break out.

"I never thought you needed Prince Charming?" Sam questioned.

She looked up at him and shrugged. "Sometimes. When I need a good impression or two."

Sam nodded and chuckled at this, kissing the top of her head as Hayley continued to explain the pictures to her brother, blessed at the life he was leading, the woman beside him and the children God had granted them with.

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><p><strong>At first I did not know what to do 'cause there were so many scenarios I could have them in, not to mention I could not for the live of me think of the names of future Samcedes kids. Then I had an initial idea and I kinda tweaked it to fit in with this and the names sort of just came to me.<strong>

**Hope the anon who requested this enjoyed this and if you have any prompts send them my way :)**

**WickedSong x**


	6. Letting Go and Holding On

**Letting Go and Holding On,**

**Written by WickedSong.**

**Disclaimer/Note: In the first chapter. Based on this prompt from basicallyrunalways on tumblr; 'Mercedes is upset about HummelBerry and all that jazz, so Sam tries to cheer her up by taking her out.' Hope you enjoy it, Molly! :D**

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><p>"Hey, have you seen Kurt?" Mercedes asked as she passed Santana and Brittany, the two former Cheerios heading to the room where everyone else was beginning to get stuck into the hard task of songwriting for Nationals once again. Well, everyone that was except Kurt - and Rachel but Mercedes hadn't really been surprised by the latter. This city was that girl's dream and if anyone was going to be sneaking away from the group to explore then it would be her.<p>

_And Kurt so it would seem_, Mercedes thought, when Santana told her that she was sure he had left with Rachel early on that morning to look around New York. _Of course_, she realised with a further clarity, _you're always left behind_. But Mercedes soldiered on, faked a smile, thanked Santana for her help and returned to the room, subdued and in deep thought.

What had she been doing wrong? She had been asking herself this question quite a lot these days, as the number of insistences where she had been overlooked in favour of Rachel or Blaine had increased. She was glad for him, she really was, he was happier now, happier than he had been in a year, he had someone who he was crazy about who was equally as smitten by him. That happiness she felt for her best friend - or was that former best friend now - only lasted so long however and she was scared - scared that it was going to turn into some full blown resentment for both Rachel and Blaine. _They're taking your best friend away_, a voice in the back of her head taunted and it was a petty thought, childish but the truth.

A truth she had tried to turn her head away from for as long as she could. She was good at pretending that nothing was wrong. She had to be when she was the shoulder to cry on nine times out of ten.

"And then we go straight into the chorus when Artie and Brittany-Mercedes, are you alright?" Startled, Mercedes looked up to find Tina smiling at her, with concern written all over her face.

"Oh yeah, why?" she replied, straightening up on the seat she had fallen into when she had returned to the room, and smiling widely to deflect any questions from coming her way.

"It's just, you seemed kinda upset," Tina answered. She put down the papers in her hands on one of the closest beds and walked over, taking her friend's hand. "You sure you're okay?"

"Tee, go over there and finish your song," Mercedes told her, squeezing her hand with an encouraging grin, half real, half fake, she decided, and then letting go, causing the raven-haired girl beside her to nod and return to where she had been standing, continuing to explain what she had written. Mercedes had to admit she hadn't really been listening and it was an awful thing to say because they had worked so hard and here she was, letting Rachel and Kurt's expedition around New York (which, considering Rachel always demanded the solos was kinda irresponsible on the girl's part) ruin what they had all worked so hard for.

Well, not anymore. If Kurt didn't want her friendship anymore, then so be it, she wouldn't care, she would take it, like she did everything else, and move on.

Puck soon suggested that they all take five minutes for a break and the entire group jumped at the chance, Tina and Artie agreeing mostly due to the fact that they still had no idea where Rachel and Kurt had went to, and they'd really have to be back soon for rehearsal. Mercedes had to smile at the way the two younger members of the New Directions were leading the group, with Mr. Schue also currently AWOL. They would make great leaders when the majority of the club had graduated and they were the seniors.

"I thought you never lied to Tina?"

Mercedes turned around to find Sam behind her at the water fountain in the hallway. She sighed, not wanting to deal with him, and his crooked smile and those green eyes that somehow made her want to tell him all her darkest secrets, her biggest hopes, her most dreaded fears. She pushed the feeling away, and folded her arms defensively. "Who said I was lying?"

He pointed to his face, more so those green eyes and shrugged. "Hey, the eyes are the gateway to the soul, right?" He shrugged, seemingly not caring that that line was corny. "Oh well, it's not like Tina believes you anyway."

"Believes what?"

Giving his best, 'I can see through your bullshit' face, Sam remained silent and she realised this was a battle she could fight all day long that she would not win. For the short time that they'd been hanging out he could definitely see her better than other people she had known for a longer period of time. Perhaps that's why she'd always been so careful around him. She felt so exposed, and so open around him. She only had that with a handful of other people and she was hesitant to add anyone else to that list, after Kurt had been effectively knocked off recently.

"Come on." He nodded his head towards the elevator.

"You're forgetting rehearsal," she said to him, sternly, looking in the opposite direction where everyone else was probably back to being hard at work.

"They can bear without us for five minutes," he told her matter-of-factly. "Don't you trust me?" He held his hand out.

She made the mistake of letting her expression say, 'yes,' because honestly, she did. He didn't need to hear her say it, he knew when he placed his hand in hers.

With excitement he made his way down the hall, and pressed the elevator button. The doors opened and he pressed the ground floor button, all the while keeping that grip on her head, smiling at her in between times. She couldn't help but smile back.

"Where are we going? Everyone is going to want to kill us," she warned, thinking of how pissed Tina had looked when Santana had relayed the message that Kurt and Rachel were still off gallivanting around somewhere.

Sam laughed. "Well, being cooped up in that room isn't getting you anywhere so I thought you needed," he gave a huge dramatic pause before opening the hotel doors, "the fresh air!"

"Only you would count outside as a great surprise, you know that?"

_But you like him for it._

"Well we've been in New York for a few days and we've still not seen the sights," he commented and she was surprised to see he still had a grip on her hand. Tentatively she held on a little tighter, wondering if he would pull away.

She was further surprised to see that he did not.

"Well then, where are we going? Remember, we can't be away too long."

Sam nodded. "Wouldn't want to be like Hummelberry, would we?" He went to start walking up the street but she stopped.

"Hummel-?" She answered her own question almost immediately and this caused her mood to deflate almost instantly. She had just been beginning to forget about how Kurt had basically abandoned her, she had been enjoying the feeling of Sam's hand in her own as he was being his usual adorkable self and now it was all back to square one.

He turned to her, almost letting go of her hand, unsure whether he had hit a nerve. She silently asked him to keep holding on, however, and he did. "I'm sorry. That's why-why you're upset, right?"

"Hit the nail on the head," she told him. She sat on the steps, and since their hands were still joined he went to sit beside her. It was second nature for them not to let go and both didn't want to.

"It's Kurt's loss, you know?" Sam told her, and for once she let the feeling of being left behind overtake her, shaking her head, not letting herself believe for a minute that was true. She always lost in the end. "I'm telling the truth. Look, you're not alone. Tina is always there for you, Quinn may be a little wrapped up in other things right now but I know she still loves you, everyone else would do anything for you, and you know if you want me there too, I will be."

Looking down at their joined hands she knew he meant that last part. And, if she dug a little deeper, looked past all the times she had been left when something better had come along, she could see that he was right about everyone else.

"I've always admired your strength you know?" he told her. "Don't let anyone take that from you."

She grinned, a more confident one, maybe 80% real and 20% fake now, at those words. "Well of course not."

Sam nodded, and gave that crooked smile. "That's the spirit!" He jumped up, bringing her along with him, causing them to move in closer to one another. There was a small moment of silence, where she realised that if she just leaned her face in a little closer she may be able to-

"Sam! Mercedes! There you are!" Brittany said, a smile upon her face, the door open. "Tina was worried you guys had ditched too!"

This caused the two to pull away, reluctantly letting their hands slip away from each other's grasp as they looked nervously at the blonde. "No, we wouldn't," Sam insisted.

"Yeah," added Mercedes. "We'll be up in a minute."

Brittany didn't say anything else, only smiled knowingly, and then with a discreet wink, closed the door, walking back into the hotel.

"Sorry I couldn't take you on a New York adventure," Sam said with a somewhat sad smile.

Mercedes shrugged. "Wouldn't want to be like Hummelberry, right?"

That crooked smile again caused Mercedes' heart to flutter and for a small moment she thought that it wouldn't be so bad to let him be one of the few she let into her heart. But that thought would have to wait, she knew, as she took his hand again. "Don't you trust me?" she asked, and he nodded, gripping on tighter.

They had Nationals to win.

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><p><strong>So, Molly, hope you enjoyed this. I know you said you also had the idea that they got together but as I wrote it, I realised it didn't fit in with the general idea here. Hope you don't mind (I think that was the part you said I could use my own discretion with, yes?)<strong>

**Anyway, this was actually really enjoyable to write. I always get so nervous when someone gives me a prompt because I don't want to let them down but I find if I just don't panic about it, it comes pretty naturally.**

**So, if you have any for me, please send me a message on this or tumblr! Thank you and happy reading! Please read and review, reviews mean a lot to me :)**

**WickedSong.**


	7. Sexual Tension

**Sexual Tension,**

**Written by WickedSong.**

**Disclaimer/Note : In the first chapter. This is a prompt from roojieq on tumblr. She wanted during Big Brother, Sam goes to get Mercedes' phone and there is the lead up to their 'sexual tension' as Sue would call it. Hope you enjoy, since I don't know how good this one is. Keep in mind as well that I haven't actually seen the episode here yet, only bits and pieces (damn you, Sky Anytime, damn you!)**

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><p>Assuring Puck and Mike that he'd catch up with them later, Sam watched as everyone filed out of the auditorium, the exception being Mercedes, who was combing through the multitude of rows looking for the phone which Sue had thrown from the stage during the intense and harsh session of booty camp. If he was being honest Sam hadn't been taking it entirely seriously until she had carried out that action, or until she was shouting straight in his face, the usual insults that would come out of the cheerleading coach's mouth flying everywhere.<p>

"Coach Sylvester threw your phone much further than that," commented Sam, standing at the opposite end of the row where Mercedes was currently carrying out her search. He imitated the action of the woman, facial expression included, which forced Mercedes to quirk her lips into a smile, even if it faded as quickly as it had happened. "I'll help you," suggested Sam brightly, passing the other rows.

He wasn't surprised when the next words out of her mouth were, "Sam, just go and catch a ride with Finn or Kurt, I could be here for a..." Her words were cut off by her phone being waved by Sam, who now stood in the middle of one of the furthest rows, smirking at her, in that way that meant he knew he was right. Sighing, and with a smile, she nodded her head in acknowlegement of this. "Thank you."

He began walking down the steps, hand outstretched to give her the phone back. What she hadn't anticipated was him using their height difference to make it such a challenge. First he lifted his arm ever so higher, so that she had to stand on her tiptoes, then higher and higher, until she folded her arms, an irritated expression crossing her face. "You are not funny in the slightest," she told him, lightly punching him in the shoulder, an action which caused him to lose grip of the phone momentarily. He and Mercedes both dived for the android cautious of the damage that had already been done to it today by Sue. Mercedes caught it but she went to stand too soon and accidentally hit the phone off of Sam's face, the boy recoiling from the impact.

Instantly she went to see if he was okay, as he held his face in his hands. He held up a hand, in a 'one minute while I compose myself' gesture, while she winced. When he still grimaced, face in his hands, she placed a hand on his shoulder. "Are you-"

"Got ya!"

Mercedes jumped slightly at the sudden way Sam removed his hands and scared her but quickly pulled herself together in enough time to laugh at his antics. She felt like she hadn't seen enough of this Sam lately. She missed him. "You are one of a kind, Sam Evans, you know that?"

"Yeah, but you love it," he pointed out. She thought for a moment but then decided to nod, a nod which caused his face to light up into a smile. "So that means you've been-"

She nodded again. "Yes, I've been thinking about us."

"And?" He leaned in closer, anticipating her next words, almost able to imagine the euphoria if she replied with what he had been waiting for since the day he had had to leave her. She was so close now. His eyes were open, alert, staring right into hers, green meeting brown, only them in this moment.

"I think that we could-I mean I think we should of course-you and I-because-" She looked strained, obviously trying to mull over her words carefully, making it as clear as possible.

"You don't have to give me some long speech, you know?" he told her, cupping her cheek with his hand, and nodding at her, encouraging her to go on. "We've been there, done that."

"But you deserve an explanation on why it took so long and I need to tell you-"

"Tell me that-"

"Oh my God, just kiss already!"

Both teenagers turned and jumped apart, shocked to see Sue Sylvester standing on the stage, her bullhorn in one hand, other on her hip, shaking her head at them. "I mean, really, if I wanted to see some awkward exchange of love I'd go and find out where Butt Chin and Irma were and lurk by them. Or I'd find the Hobbit and listen to his tales of woe surrounding his brother. Come on now!"

"Uh, Miss. Sylvester, if you wouldn't mind..." Sam gestured between himself and Mercedes, a signal that the coach obviously picked up on.

"Yes, I am aware I was intruding on a moment, Guppy Lips, that was the point." The blonde-woman shook her head. "Can't a gal just get the weepies without having to sit through _Titanic_ or some other melodramatic crap?"

Both Mercedes and Sam cracked a smile at each other. Sue shook her head again. "While you could cut the sexual tension with the knife you've bored me. Goodnight."

The acid-tongued pregnant coach left the auditorium, muttering to herself, leaving the two to try and remember where their conversation had been. All Sam could remember that they were almost there - they were standing in front of each other, ready to pour their hearts out.

"I have to go," Mercedes said. "I said I'd meet Tina by her car..." She gestured to the door.

Sam nodded. "This conversation isn't over yet though, right?"

She turned around and nodded, with a sly grin. "Definitely not."

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><p><strong>So yeah, I don't know if I captured Sue's voice well enough but I had to have her in there so she could comment on the tension between Mercedes and the Kentucky Fried Stripper (I'm still <em>howling<em> at that nickname, howling!) Sue's a Samcedian at heart, just like everyone else. Seriously, I think the entire glee club - and McKinley faculty - honestly ships them - not even using shipper bias here (maybe _just_ a little).**

**So, if you have a prompt for me, let me know please! And I will do my very best.**

**Until the next time,**

**WickedSong x**


	8. Journey to the Past

**Journey to the Past,**

**Written by WickedSong.**

**Disclaimer/Note : In the first chapter. Prompt from fluvinsamcedes who asked for, '**Samcedes have a night to themselves away from the kids and….((I'll let your brilliant mind fill in the rest))...' And it was a little bit of a compliment as well so thanks ;) So hope you enjoy this. It may not be exactly what you thought but I decided to take a slightly less thought of avenue because I have this aversion to writing (and sometimes reading) smut. Idk why. Also, this ties in with, 'Things That Matter,' and 'Letting Go and Holding On.'****

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><p>Mercedes opened the door to the hotel room and sighed with relief at the prospect of a night alone with her husband. She and Sam loved their kids, no one could dispute that, they were their blessings and they wouldn't trade their little girl or boy for the world. But when her parents had offered to take them for the night, Mercedes had jumped at the chance. The last time they had had a night to themselves had been a little over a year ago, when they had been in Kentucky and Sam's parents had taken them, telling the two to take the weekend off from being parents. Of course it was something that you couldn't just shut off from. As soon as she stepped through the door, Mercedes placed her keys on the nearby table, took her phone out of her pocket and checked her messages.<p>

She was relieved but not surprised to find there were none.

"Sam!" Mercedes called out into the hotel room. "Where are you?"

"In here," he replied. She followed his voice to find him packing a bagpack. She folded her arms at him, her face clearly saying that she was confused about what was going on. He smiled, like he knew something she didn't and she knew he had a surprise planned.

"Really?" she asked, sitting beside him on the couch, draping her arms around his neck and turning his face to face her. "The first night we get to ourselves in a year and we're not going to spend it," she ran her hand up his leg, "like this."

Sam, for a moment, looked sorely tempted to throw the bag on the floor and do what she wished for the night but he had been planning this and in the end, he knew the smile on her face would be worth it. He kissed her cheek and closed the bag over. "Don't you trust me?" He stood up, holding his hand out. Suddenly, Mercedes was transported back, many, many years ago to New York, when he had asked the exact same question in the exact same way about missing a couple of minutes of rehearsal.

She nodded. "You know I do." Quickly, she placed her hand in his and he pulled her up, taking the bag in the other hand. "So can you tell me where we're going or..."

"Not yet," he told her. "But when we get there you will."

"That sounds strangely cryptic," she told him as they walked to the door, Mercedes picking up her keys for the room door as she did so. She locked the door behind her and Sam continued leading her to the elevator, then the lobby until they were at their car. They had been in Lima for a New Directions reunion of sorts and to visit her family. They were heading back to California, where they were both based, the next afternoon. Driving to Ohio had been a pain, with Jason irritating Hayley and Hayley whining constantly, asking if they were there yet. Hopefully the kids would be tired from the vacation and sleep on the drive home.

Mercedes could only hope.

Sam opened the door to the passenger side of the car for her, ever the gentleman and then walked to the other side, into the driver's seat. Hearing the reassuring click of both their seatbelts he began driving. In the sixteen years since they had graduated from McKinley High not a lot had changed. They passed by Breadstix which was still as popular as ever before, The Lima Bean, which while business had fluctuated, according to Kurt and Blaine, who visited Lima and their favourite coffee shop often, still remained open.

Mercedes was sure Sam's surprise would involve one of these locations but when he drove straight past them and into the open road of the relative countryside, she grew more confused. That was until she saw the familiar opening in the greenery which led to the road down to the-

"We're going to the lake!" she asked, the smile in her voice evident. They hadn't been to the lake in years, ten to be exact.

Sam took her hand in his as he stopped the car. "Well, I was planning it to be us and the kids but then your parents stepped in and well, it couldn't have worked out better, huh?" He shrugged.

"You are crazy you know that, right?"

"Only about you."

She turned to him, took his face in her hands and kissed him right on the lips, as if she'd never have the opportunity to do so again. Pulling out of the kiss, he quirked a smile at her, but she only leaned her head on his shoulder as they continued to sit in the car. Sam looked down at her, smiled lightly, and then put his head on top of hers.

"We can get out of the car, you know?" he said after a moment of silence passed between them.

She nodded. "Yeah, I know." She took his hand in hers and then smirked at him. "Race you to the water?"

"I wouldn't have it any other way." He kissed the top of her nose, causing her to giggle. The couple then vacated the car and Mercedes ran the familiar path to the water's edge. She found that Sam was trailing behind her, holding the bagpack, and also a picnic blanket under the other arm. She turned and smiled at him. Yes, it had been sixteen years since they had first discovered this lake, their own secluded place, perfect for the secret relationship their romance had started as during that summer, and yes, in that time they had both grown so much, as a couple, as individuals, and now they were married with two wonderful children, but in the end, they hadn't really _changed _at all. And neither had this place.

Time hadn't ravaged it's beauty and that obviously meant that not many others had found its location. It may have been a selfish thought, but that was how Mercedes liked it. She stared out at the water, and felt arms wrap around her, Sam placing his head on top of hers and looking out as well.

"Still beautiful, isn't it?" she asked him.

"Yes, you are."

She scoffed a little. "That is the oldest line in the book, Evans."

"Well you deserve to hear it, Evans."

She still felt a little soumersalt in her stomach when she heard that. It was like a little happy reminder that this was all real - that she and Sam were _married_. Had she ever thought of this when they had sat by the lake sixteen years ago? Maybe, in what she would call a crazy daydream but they had ended as soon as they had begun when Sam had left and she had never let herself think of them again until he came back.

And even then she had had to stop herself from thinking that far.

He took her hand again and led her to the picnic blanket. He lay down and she took the space beside him, looking up at the stars, his arm around her as she nestled her head into his chest, hearing the constant thump of his heart. She smiled as she looked up at him.

"I knew you'd smile," he told her, sounding as if he had won a bet or something of that sort.

She nodded at him. "Well, who wouldn't? I think this is the exact spot where I realised that I was falling for you."

"Really?" he asked, kissing the top of her head.

"Yeah," she replied as if recalling it easier now. "Yeah, I think we were just looking at the stars like we are now. I looked up at you, and your eyes were half closed, you had finished a shift at the pizzeria yet insisted we go out. You were so tired." She gave a small laugh. "Anyway, I just remember that I felt this sort of jump in my stomach, butterflies, whatever, and I knew."

Sam gave a 'hmm' sound of acknowledgement. "Well, this is the exact spot where I _knew_ I loved you. I knew if the rest of my life was just sitting out here, on a picnic blanket, looking up at the stars, you in my arms, I would take it. I would live it happily."

"I missed this place," mused Mercedes. "We definitely should bring the kids out here the next time we're in town."

Sam nodded his agreement, and pulled her in closer. Then his eyes must have caught something because he smirked. Mercedes looked at him in questioning and he pointed to the nearby tree. "I think I still see-"

"Our initials."

Mercedes grinned up at him and Sam nodded. "And we still have the only set there, it seems."

Again, it was a selfish thought, and she knew Sam was thinking it too, but she was glad it was only theirs on that tree. It was _their_ place after all.

"What did you bring the bag for?" she asked.

"Just some food, but I'm not really hungry."

"I ate at my folks' place," Mercedes supplied.

They spent the next half an hour or so in silence, staring dreamily up at the stars overhead.

"I love you," Sam whispered in her ear, kissing it delicately after saying those words while Mercedes smiled, shivered at the close contact - he could still drive her mad after all these years - and nodded.

"I know."

"You just Han-soloed me!"

She smiled at his incredulous expression before kissing the top of his head, then his cheeks and finally his lips. Pulling away she smiled sweetly.

"I love you too."

* * *

><p><strong>I am unable to write the smut so I write the sappy instead. *insert innocent smile gif here* And plus, I just thought how cute it would be if they returned to their lake after all these years. And I will never let go of the fact that they carved their initials onto a tree, okay? That is my headcanon and I am sticking with it because you know Sam would have insisted on it.<strong>

**Anyway, this was for fluvinsamcedes so I hope that this lived up to your prompt suggestion. I really enjoyed writing it :) But again, I'm not sure how I feel about it. Maybe I'll like it when I re-read it later but right now, I'm on the fence.**

**Remember, any prompt requests just message me on tumblr or PM me on this,**

**WickedSong x**


	9. In Time

**In Time,**

**Written by WickedSong.**

**Disclaimer/Note : In the first chapter. Prompt from firstthecolours on tumblr who asked for, 'Post-Heart episode, Sam gets drunk and Mercedes has to drive him home.' There was more to the prompt but that unfolds as the oneshot goes along so in the interest of suspense, that's the general idea. I liked how this one came out so please enjoy :)**

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><p>It was the buzzing of the phone on her nightstand which alerted Mercedes to an incoming phone call. Rolling over and checking the time, she saw it was near enough eleven o'clock at night. Sure, it wasn't late but she had come home early from Sugar's Valentine's Day party with the sole intention of getting some sleep - since she had found it hard enough to do so recently with all the thoughts running through her head.<p>

Between the Sam and Shane debacle, college applications, college acceptance letters, rejection letters, her future in general, she hadn't had an easy night's rest for months.

Her phone continued to vibrate furiously, almost falling off of the table. She grabbed it before it did, rubbed her eyes sleepily and checked the caller ID to find Puck's name light up on the screen. _That boy better have a good reason_, she thought, quietly seething, otherwise she would kick him where it hurt when she next saw him.

"What do you want?" she asked, as she groggily lifted the phone to her ear. "Puck, are you drunk?" she questioned, even more annoyed now that this was the case.

"Maybe just a little," he replied, "but not as much as Sam. He is wasted." Puck's words were slurred but he still had some semblance of sense, not marred by the alcohol. If this was the state that the self-proclaimed bad ass sex shark was in, Mercedes shuddered to think of what Sam was like.

"What do you want me to do, Puck?" questioned Mercedes, tiredly, swinging her legs over, her feet landing on the carpet. She placed her slippers on her feet and kept her voice hushed; her parents had went to bed when she had arrived home.

"Could you come and pick him up? I'm going out with some of the ladies I picked up from the sorority," Puck took a moment to cheer loudly and Mercedes rolled her eyes at the sound of shrill giggles in the background. In that moment she missed Lauren Zizes more than ever, "but Sam is refusing to go and he's sort of cramping my style."

"Why can't he make his own way home?" asked Mercedes defiantly, subconsciously trying to forget that she was already opening up her wardrobe, taking out a plain t-shirt and jeans and placing them on her bed.

"Because he's drunk," answered Puck, and she swore she heard him say 'duh', after that sentence.

She sighed. "Give me the address. I'll be there in ten."

Puck slurred his thanks to her, told her they were at his place, and then hung up. Mercedes dressed quickly, throwing on an old hoodie over her t-shirt, pulling on the boots beside her bed and grabbing her car keys from the table. She tip-toed carefully down the stairs, careful not to wake her parents but her plans to leave unnoticed were thwarted by her brother, emerging from the living room with a snack in one hand and a glass of water in the other. He was home from college for the weekend.

"Where are you sneaking off to at this time?" he whispered looking down at his watch. "It's nearly half past eleven."

"I just have to go and give someone a ride home, that's all," she replied, irritation clear in her voice as she attempted to walk past him and to the door. Her brother however blocked her way looking sceptical.

"Back in my day, the glee kids never got drunk," Marcus recalled. He shrugged. "How times change, I guess. So who're you picking up? Tell me it's Rachel Berry. I'd pay money to see her drunk."

Mercedes shook her head. "Trust me it is not a pretty sight. Besides it's not her."

"Puckerman? Kurt? Tina? _Quinn_?"

"No to all four of the above. Better luck next time," she said to him, shrugging her shoulders. She went to leave the house but he still stood in front of her, his arms folded, his best stern expression plastered all over his face.

"If you don't tell me, I'll tell Mom and Dad," he warned with a quick smirk.

She shook her head. "Why are you so difficult?"

"Protective is the word you should be looking for baby sis," he clarified. "I can't have you leave this house unless I know the drunken slob you're picking up." Giving her a pointed look, she sighed in defeat.

"It's Sam."

"Sam?" her brother mused, as if thinking, until it finally hit him. "Trouty Mouth!" His eyes widened. "Trouty Mouth is back! You never told me that!"

"Don't call him that!" she scolded, keeping her voice as quiet as she could. "And I never thought it was important." He gave her a look that screamed he didn't believe that but she continued anyway, "Now, will you please let me go?"

Marcus nodded, holding his hands up. "I trust Evans enough."

She placed a hand over her heart and gave a mock sigh of relief. "I'm sure that means the world to him."

Again, he nodded, as he went up the stairs. "Damn straight it should."

* * *

><p>Arriving at Puck's door, Mercedes rapped her knuckles on it, and sighed, waiting for what seemed like a lifetime until the mohawked teenager opened the door to her. Her arms were folded and her expression was one of irritation, both from being forced to pick up her ex-boyfriend and her brother's interrogation of her before she had left.<p>

"You owe me, Puck," she warned, half-saying it, half-growling the words under her breath.

He smiled at her. "Gladly." Poking his head further into the house, he shouted, "Sam! Your ride's here."

As they waited for the blonde boy to appear, Mercedes leaned on the doorframe. "Why couldn't Finn or Kurt pick him up anyway? He _lives_ with them."

"Finn's spending the night at Chez Berry," Puck explained and Mercedes gave a look of horror as she thought of the now officially engaged couple and all the activities they would be getting up to under the same roof. She suddenly wished she had some sort of mind-erasing technology next to her as she shuddered. Puck laughed, nodding as if he was having the same tortuous thoughts, "while Hummel and Anderson went to, how can I phrase it, reacquaint themselves with each other."

She remembered that soon after performing _Love Shack _the two boys had disappeared somewhere.

"Where is-" As if waiting to arrive on cue, Sam appeared beside Puck, bottle of beer in hand, basically answering Mercedes' question. He saw her and grinned, handing Puck the bottle and going in for a hug. Following the song she sang to him in glee that had been the last thing she had expected. In fact he had been pretty much avoiding her for the rest of this week. She guessed it was just the alcohol clouding his brain so she hesitantly returned the hug and then pulled away.

"Come on, I'd better get you home." Sam nodded, and after pulling Puck into a hug – he was an affectionate drunk after all – and telling him that he was his best friend, Mercedes took his arm and led him to her car. She opened the door and he stumbled in, putting his seat belt on while Mercedes walked round to the driver's side. Once in the vehicle she put the keys in the ignition and started the car up.

The ride was silent, until Sam gave a soft chuckle.

"This reminds me of when we were dating, you know over the summer?" She didn't answer but that didn't stop him. "Not the fact that I'm drunk obviously." Maybe the fact that he knew he was completely and utterly out of it was a good sign. "But you driving me home. Because, because," he sounded as if he was looking for words and then clicked his fingers when he found them, a sudden motion, which made Mercedes jump slightly, her eyes still on the road as she drove the familiar streets to the Hummel-Hudson home, "because you didn't care that my family had nothing, or that we were living in that horrible motel room, no you wanted me for me, and if that was just for a day by the lake, doing nothing you were fine." He nodded, sure of himself as he looked over at her, the way he was looking at her making her remember. "And so was I. Those were," suddenly his voice wasn't that of someone having a drunken rant, but of the Sam she knew, the Sam she loved, behind the drink, speaking from his heart, "and always will be the happiest days of my life."

"Sam-"

"No, no," he insisted as she parked the car and got out, opening his door up for him and helping him out, "you don't owe me anything, okay? I came back, I messed up here, you didn't, ok? I want to take the blame,"

"You don't know what you're saying, alright?" she told him. "It was my fault too. It was both of our faults."

By this time they were standing at the door. Mercedes went to knock but Sam took her raised hand in his own. "I've missed you."

"You saw me tonight."

"You know what I mean." Again, that genuine tone was in his voice. And yet again he gave that chuckle to himself. "I just miss us and how easy It was, before I had to move."

"So do I," she admitted. "But we might be able to move forward, one day. I just need time."

That word looked like it killed him inside when she said it. But he nodded. "Well, I'll wait forever if I have to."

"You're drunk, you don't know what you're saying."

"Yeah I do," he said with a smirk, and – because after all he was an affectionate drunk – he bypassed hugging her and went straight in for a kiss, hand on her cheek, pulling her closer, nibbling at her bottom lip. She was overcome with joy at the feeling of his lips on hers that she forgot for just a minute that she was taking time for herself. He pulled away with a grin and opened the door, stumbling over the threshold while she touched her lips carefully, the ghost of the kiss still there.

* * *

><p>"Someone had fun last night."<p>

Sam opened his eyes groggily to be faced with the faces of Kurt, Burt and Carole, the trio looking down at him, as he lay on the couch. The couch? Why wasn't he in his bed? Why was he here? For a moment panic overwhelmed him as he questioned his surroundings but quickly he remembered. He was in Lima, staying with the Hummel-Hudson clan to finish his senior year, to help the New Directions, to help his friends and he had been here since early December.

The other thing he knew for sure was that he had a killer headache, his stomach felt like it was tied up in knots and his throat hurt like hell. He knew the symptoms of a hangover and quickly went to curse himself for his excessive alcohol consumption the night before.

"Come on, have this," Carole said, sitting on the seat beside him, handing a glass of water to him, with a comforting smile and a pat on the back.

"I'm so sorry to be a bother," he told them, embarrassed that they had taken him in when he came back to Lima with Finn and Rachel and he had repaid them by showing up on their couch, drunk out of his mind.

Burt shook his head. "You're a good kid, Sam, we're not going to hold this against you. Or tell your parents." He gave him a stern look. "As long as you don't do it again."

"You'd better clear up and head to your room though," Kurt said to him, as he came back in from being in the kitchen. "Mercedes and Blaine are coming round to help with costume design for Regionals."

"Mercedes?"

Sam's felt his face heat up immediately as he remembered. He had been ranting, overly emotional, as always happened when he had too much to drink. He recalled that she had driven him home and then he had-kissed her?

He questioned for a moment whether the clear memory of him kissing her and her kissing him back was real but decided that it was.

He jumped up, taking the blanket that Carole had obviously thrown over him during the night, with him as he walked up the stairs shaking his head, muttering over and over again about how he had yet again managed to screw things up spectacularly.

_Nice job Evans_, he told himself, _thinking about losing the person you love through stupid actions as a career move after college?_

He put the blanket in his room, then went to the bathroom across the hall and checked his reflection. His hair was a mess, wildly sticking up all over the place, his shirt wasn't tucked in and there was drool all over his face. _Attractive_, his mind said sarcastically. He quickly disposed of his clothes from the previous night and ran the shower, jumping in for a quick five minutes before he heard the front door being knocked. Knowing it was either Blaine or Mercedes he quickly scrambled out of the shower, wrapped a towel around himself and ran to his room. Hearing it was Blaine he sighed in relief. He still had time to think of how to approach a conversation with Mercedes after making his move last night.

How could he have been so stupid? That was the last time he was letting Puck get him drunk, he swore it.

After changing into jeans and a t-shirt, he checked the time to see it was nearly one in the afternoon. He had slept most of his Saturday away already. He heard the door again and went to stand at the top of the stairs. As soon as he saw her he knew that he was right about them kissing – or him kissing her, not that she hadn't enjoyed it – especially when she caught his eye and looked away almost as swiftly.

It had made things much worse now.

It wasn't until the trio took a break from costume design that Sam made his way down the stairs and bumped into Mercedes, quite literally, as pieces of paper and fabrics and all sorts dropped out of her hands.

"Sorry," they said in unison as they knelt to the floor to pick up the scattered materials.

"It was my fault, I wasn't looking where I was going," she insisted.

"I was doing that too," replied Sam.

"I guess it was both our faults then," Mercedes told him, as he handed her back the things he was holding. He nodded, her words echoing the conversation they had had the previous nights, bits and pieces of which he could remember.

"Thanks for last night by the way," he ventured, trying to gauge where she was. "You didn't have to-"

"Yeah, I did," she said to him, smiling. "Don't mention it."

He realised she didn't bring up the kiss. He decided to follow her example as she walked away to go into the kitchen. She turned to him quickly, however.

"Um, Sam, about that-about that-"

"About what?"

Her face looked crestfallen, as she obviously thought he didn't remember. "It's nothing."

He didn't imagine that, he realised, feeling his hope renew inside his chest, happiness overflowing. She may still need time – oh how he hated that word now – but that kiss had obviously meant something to her, for her to turn around.

Time.

That's all they needed now.

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><p><strong>So thoughts? I went through the motions with this one. At first I was excited to write it, then I thought I was going to write it terribly and then I finished it and it wasn't that bad. I had the incentive to do so since my internet was down and I was waiting for it to come back on so I thought, 'Let's have a oneshot ready for coming back online.' And I did :)<strong>

**So I hope you enjoyed it, firstthecolours, and it lived up to what you wanted to see :) So please, I'd love to know what you thought in particular :)**

**WickedSong x**


	10. All I Need Is A Sign

**All I Need Is A Sign,**

**Written by WickedSong.**

**Disclaimer/Note : In the first chapter. Request from hannahl for a continuation of 'Not A Couple', and 'Sexual Tension.' She asked for separate but I merged the two together because they take place in about the same time frame from Big Brother onwards. So please enjoy.**

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><p>Two instances within the one week they had come close to repairing their shaky relationship but both hadn't been the right time. First there had been the day in the auditorium and Sam was sure that had Coach Sylvester not interrupted them with her outburst something may have come of it, besides the sharp tongue woman's comment about the sexual tension that seemed to be following them around. Sam was even more sure that Senior Skip Day would have been the perfect opportunity but the last failed attempt at reuniting had left them both feeling more and more reluctant to approach the difficult topic. To Sam it appeared as if they were forever searching for the right words and if they had just a little more time they might finally be able to say them.<p>

Both of their encounters had also ended in the promise of having a proper discussion about where they currently stood, this limbo only a stalemate until they could look each other in the eye without their hearts breaking. That heartbreak, a remnant from Valentine's Day when she had serenaded him, as perfectly and flawlessly as she always did, was always etched into his mind. There had only been two times he had been that upset - when he had had his guitar returned to him last year (when his family's situation had sort of fell on top of him all at once) and when he had had to leave her towards the end of that summer.

Once Mr. Schue had dismissed the glee club from the choir room, Sam took twice as long to put some books back in his bag, waiting for Mercedes, watching as she spoke to Kurt, laughing at something the other boy had said. It was Kurt who caught his eye actually, nodded with a hint of understanding and said goodbye to Mercedes, taking her shoulders and turning her in his direction, mouthing, 'you owe me', to the blond boy with a sharp look in his eye.

"What is it, Sam?"

"We still haven't talked," he told her matter-of-factly, leaving his bag on the seat and walking up to stand beside her at the back row of the choir room. She nodded, ready to finally face up to what was before them. Sitting down, she motioned to Sam to sit in the seat beside her.

It was silent, again those words seemed out of their grasp. But with the chance of zero interruptions it appeared as if they would come to them eventually. Hesitantly Sam reached out for her hand and wordlessly she let him take it. A small sign that she was, at least, on the same page as him, a sign that even if they weren't together right now it didn't make their feelings any less meaningful than that of Finn and Rachel and Kurt and Blaine. This was real, this was theirs, it had always been.

He smiled at her and she returned the smile.

Again, a sign. Distance had tried to keep them apart, their equal bouts of stubborness had tried to keep them apart, fate had even tried their hand at it but in the end nothing could break this bond between them.

That was what kept them rooted there.

"I don't know," she admitted, breaking their eye contact, and Sam was semi-startled by the words due to the long period of silence that had transpired between them. He didn't understand and she saw this adding, "I'm leaving Lima, you're either staying here or going back to Kentucky and...and...can we do that again? Can I do that again? Lose you?"

He gave a sad smile in her direction. "You know we can't guarantee the future, Mercedes. And do we want to, really? All I know is that we have the here and now. A second chance. How many people can say they've had that in a lifetime? We have so much to look forward to, _together_, right now. And I'd like to bet that we're never going to be saying goodbye to each other. Well, I won't." He held her hand a little tighter and she returned this, clinging to it, looking in his eyes, seeking comfort in his words.

"So...what are we now then?"

"Is that a yes?"

"If you answer my question." She gave him an arched eyebrow and a smirk and he laughed, his grin uncontrollable.

"Well, all I know is that I'm just a guy who's in love with the girl next to him and if I can walk down the hallways, holding her hand, if I can dance with her during glee rehearsal and if I can have the honour of taking her to prom for a second year," he leaned in closer to her, so their lips were inches away from touching, "then I'm going to be more than amazing." He drew away from her and then looked down. "Unless you don't want to."

She laughed in spite of herself and then cupped his cheek with her hand, pulling him in closer feeling more than confident in the renewed strength of what they had. She placed her lips to his in a quick, chaste motion, before pulling back, smiling shyly at him. "I think that would be more than amazing," she echoed and he leaned in, returning the kiss.

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><p><strong>And remember, if you have a prompt, PM me or message me on tumblr at wickedsong. tumblr. com (no spaces remember!)<strong>

**Hope you all enjoyed this one despite how short it is.**

**WickedSong x**


	11. Meet The Family

**Meet The Family,**

**Written by WickedSong.**

**Disclaimer/Note : In the first chapter as always. This was a prompt from Iluvyeachick who asked for Sam meeting Mercedes' brothers and asking that she had four brothers. So obviously it deviates from what we know in canon (although, we'll never know much about her family *foreverbitterrib+*) Hope you enjoy! :)**

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><p>"You seem nervous."<p>

"Of course not."

Mercedes gave Sam a momentary 'judging you' look before leaning over and taking his hand in her own.

"You shouldn't be," she assured him, not taking his obvious denial into account. "My parents love you and so does Kyle."

Sam let out a deep sigh, shaky and apprehensive. "Yeah, but I'm meeting your other brothers today, remember? Stace is only six and I already imagine wringing the necks of the guys she'll bring home."

"My brothers are going to love you, ok?" insisted Mercedes. "Sure they're protective but it comes from a good place. You know that. Besides if they try to wring your neck I will make sure they're in a lot of pain for a very long time."

She smiled at the sound of Sam chuckling nervously. Making him smile, hearing him laugh had to be something she wold never - and would never want to - grow tired of.

"And they know..." He trailed off, unsure of how to phrase the awkward question so he looked down to their hands. Mercedes understood what he meant almost straight away.

"Shut up, you're white!" She wore a quick look of mock mild shock before she shook her head, Sam giving her a sheepish look in return. "Yes they know," she told him. "Not that it should matter."

There was a moment of silence between them before Sam let go of her hand and jumped out of the car with bounding enthusiasm as he tried to mask how nervous he still was inside. She had this amazing ability in being able to make him feel at ease, to make him feel like all he had to be was himself but that still didn't stop that knot in the pit of his stomach - only lessening an impending feeling of doom ever so slightly.

Mercedes grinned and did the same as he walked around and took her hand in his, as they walked up to her door. She opened it and they walked in, as she shouted to her parents that she was home.

"Hey sweetheart," Dr. Jones greeted, walking out of the living room. "Samuel." He acknowledged the presence of his daughter's boyfriend with the nod of his head, outstretching his hand.

"Always a pleasure sir," Sam said as he shook the older man's hand. He smiled, a charming one, and Dr. Jones rewarded him with a smile back.

"Your brothers are in there," he said to Mercedes as he gave her a kiss on the forehead. He then gestured to Sam. "Don't let them beat him up too much, baby girl."

"Dad," Mercedes warned as Sam gave a weirdly high pitched noise she would later insist was somewhere between a laugh and a scream.

Dr. Jones gave his own deep rumbling laugh at the fear he had managed to instill. He liked Sam, the boy had given his daughter more and more of a reason to smile, something that, for varying reasons, had slipped over the past year. Regardless, Mercedes would always be his little girl and so he would always strive to protect her to the best of his abilities. Even if that meant scaring her boyfriends. "I'm gonna help your mom with dinner," he announced. "You need anything, just shout."

Mercedes nodded and her father walked up the hallway to the kitchen. Turning to Sam, Mercedes squeezed his hand tighter and went on her tip toes in order to give him a kiss on the cheek.

"Now come on," she demanded. "My brothers are dying to meet you."

He smiled and let him lead her into the living room. It could never be that bad if she was with him.

* * *

><p>In fact the first exchange withh her three older brothers wasn't that bad at all. He had already met her younger brother, Kyle, a couple of weeks ago and the little boy had immediately latched onto Sam, and had reminded the older boy of his younger siblings actually.<p>

Walking into the living room the three older boys had ceased their conversation abruptly, and Sam had been sure that the word 'torture' had been thrown around just as he had entered the room. On a later occasion Mercedes would deem him crazty for this. In fact, she would deem him crazy for a lot of things, but with that 'everything is a good crazy' smile and he would know that they had both fallen hook, line and sinker.

Marcus was the youngest of the three and the middle child of the family. A former star of the McKinley High Titans, he was currently in his third year at Ohio State on a football scholarship.

The second oldest, Derrick had graduated from Cleveland State four years ago and now worked in real estate, engaged to his girlfriend from his last year of college, Kirsten.

The eldest Jones sibling, Gareth, was a film student in New York after years of confusion over what his dream actually was. He was in his final year of NYU and had only been on speaking terms with his family again after a fall out with his father over his plans in New York. Dr. Jones had dismissed the dream as frivilous and something that would never amount to anything. It had only been at the intervention of Mercedes' mother two Christmases ago that the pair had sorted out their differences.

It was Gareth who reminded Sam of Mercedes the most with his bright eyes and dream in his heart. It reminded him of how determined Mercedes was and he knew that she had the inspiration to dream as big as she did due to her brother following his own - at least partially so.

At least it appeared that she looked up to him the most as she went to hug him first and then Derrick and Marcus. Sam stood there silently, making highly uncomfortable eye contact with Mercedes' brothers as she went to hug them. He even attempted a small smile but it was never returned so he resolved to not try that again - at least not yet.

"Where's Kyle?"

"We said you were going to get Sam and he zoomed upstairs." Gareth shrugged and then looked to the boy he had just mentioned. Derrick and Marcus followed their older brother's example by staring down their younger sister's boyfriend.

He wasn't sure why he thought it was a good idea but his nerves got the better of him, as Sam let out an impression of Bugs Bunny saying, 'what's up doc' as if it came naturally to him.

Mercedes gave him that 'you are crazy' smile, trying to suppress a laugh but her brothers remained stoic.

_This is how I'm going to die_, he thought quickly, as Mercedes took his arm, _at the hands on my girlfriend's brothers who think I'm a creep who does impressions_.

So the laughter that emitted from the three older boys surprised him and Sam felt himself let go of the breath he had been holding, his breathing returning back to normal as his heart rate sped down.

Derrick gave him one look and then began to laugh again.

"That was gold, gold!" he declared

"R-really?" asked Sam, unsure as he looked at a laughing Mercedes who nodded.

Gareth sat down while wiping at his eyes. "Oh yeah." He nodded also. "Sit down and tell us about yourself...Bugs."

Sam gave another weirdly nervous chuckle and Mercedes gave him an encouraging smile as they sat on the couch beside the one where her brothers had been sitting before they came in, a football game playing on mute on the television.

Before Sam could speak however the wide eyes of Kyle Jones looked at him. The six year old held a comic book in his hands.

"Hey little man!" Sam said, holding out his hand and receiving a high five from the youngest Jones child.

"Where'd you go?" asked Marcus, to his little brother, but the boy remained silent as he clambered on the couch so that he was between Sam and his big sister.

Without a word, Kyle pushed the comic towards Sam, who smiled brightly at the boy, opening the comic book up.

"Seems as if it's not only our sister he's charmed," commented Marcus to the murmurs of agreement from Gareth, Derrick and Mercedes herself, who nodded.

But she also couldn't help but smile at how enraptured her younger brother was when Sam began reading the comic to him, impressions and sound effects whenever they were required. The age gap between Kyle and her other brothers had made it difficult for them to bond when he had been born. By the time he was old enough for comics, they were in high school or college and stressed about all that that entailed. Obviously they had made an effort with him and they loved spending time with him but the gap was sometimes hard to bridge.

As she watched Sam read to Kyle, she couldn't help but think he'd be a great father one day.

* * *

><p>Having to go to work straight after dinner with the Jones', Mercedes had just finished saying goodbye to Sam when she walked into the living room.<p>

"So, what's the verdict?" she asked, expecting the worst from her brothers even though they had been especially friendly to Sam before and during dinner. Surely that was a sign of waiting to tear him a new one.

"He's funny," said Derrick. "I like him." He nodded to a surprised Mercedes.

Gareth nodded in agreement. "I didn't feel the need to kill him. I probably will. But not yet."

She folded her arms at this, and shook her head. Turning to Marcus, she looked to be seeking his approval the most. Gareth dared her to dream but Marcus had always been there for her since he was the one closest to her in age.

"Approval is given," he replied, with a thumbs up. "I'm not going to lie but when you told us about his family I didn't know what to expect, baby sis, but he seems like a good genuine guy."

Mercedes felt genuinely touched by the kid words. She turned to Kyle and lifted him up. "And what about you?" she asked.

"You should marry him," Kyle said with a cute grin but a wisdom in his voice that could only belong to a six year old and Mercedes felt her insides go crazy at that thought.

"Wait, wait, nothing about marriage yet," Gareth declared with a pointed look towards Mercedes.

She shook her head.

"Not yet," she agreed, those butterflies still in her stomach nonetheless.

* * *

><p><strong>Don't ask why he impersonated Bugs Bunny, it just happened that way! It's what happens when I'm in a good mood and writing a fun prompt like this one. Next prompt is one from scared-like-me who asked for a Samcedes day by the lake. And I have many, many plans for that one and it should be up soon so watch this space.<strong>

**To Iluvyeachick, I really, really hope you enjoyed this and I'm sorry it took so long :)**

**Remember if you have any, just pm me or message me on tumblr at wickedsong. tumblr. com.**

**WickedSong x**


	12. Perfect Day

**Perfect Day,**

**Written by WickedSong.**

**Disclaimer/Note : In the first chapter. For scared-like-me who wanted a Samcedes day by the lake. I put in the specific thing you wanted but everything else was fair game so I put in a mixture of angst and fluff. You all know this about me by now. Hope you enjoy, Coral! And yes, it's angsty but with a little bit of hope.**

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><p>Time was slowly slipping away as June became July and the new month came with the news that Sam's father had been offered a new job - in Kentucky.<p>

Sam had been happy for his family but there was also an unmistakeable devasation as his world felt rocked for not the first time in that year. Thoughts of finally leaving that cramped motel room had been replaced by the fact he was leaving his friends, a life. The prospect of a happier and healthier environment had been washed away suddenly by the fact that he would probably never see _her _again.

Mercedes.

Being unable to see her, the chance to kiss, touch or even simply hold her hand would be taken away from him by a state line and a four hour drive.

To make matters worse their time had been limited to four days. Initially Sam's father had wanted to set out for their new home - a room in a three star hotel that the company had offered until he started his job - as soon as possible. However, after a chat with his wife, and Sam was unsure what exactly she had said, the move had been delayed. After months in a motel room, sufficient time to say goodbye could do no harm.

In the midst of packing it had also been Sam's mom who had taken a box from him, demanded that he call Mercedes and have one day with his girlfriend - just the two of them where the inevitable goodbye would not be present in their minds. She made him promise he would block it out for however long he had left with her. Mary Evans wasn't stupid - she could see the way her son looked at that girl and the way she looked at him in return.

Mercedes had been the one and only person Sam had revealed the move to - the night before when his father had sat himself and his siblings down and explained, along with his mom what was happening. His mind had swimmed with the consequences of such a change, and he had left the motel in a hurry, his mom nodding in understanding as he slammed the door and walked the streets until he arrived at her house.

They had both remained brave on the outside as he explained that he was leaving, never once letting himself look into her eyes, not wanting to know how much pain he was causing. He was tempted to look at her, to say in no uncertain terms that this wasn't the end but what could he really promise? He left without a kiss or a hug goodbye, just a promise that he'd call.

He'd never admit to anyone but he was fighting the tears the entire time back to the motel room.

_Lake? xx, _he texted quickly to her.

_When? xx, _was her reply.

_Pick u up in 10 xx, _he typed in quickly, sending the message off, his mom giving him that smile once more, one that said she understood. He nodded in her general direction and then heard his phone buzz again in his hands.

_Sounds good xx, _she replied.

He sighed, not happy, but not sad, and put his phone in his pocket. He turned to his dad. "I'm going out with Mercedes."

Dwight Evans nodded, just as Mary had, to Sam. He took the car keys and handed them to his son. With a sad smile he ruffled the boy's hair and realised he wasn't much of a boy anymore. He was a man - who had grown up much too soon, who had made sacrifices for his family, who could be allowed one last day with this girl who had made him smile more and more. Between March and April he had been silently getting on with it, his work, school, babysitting, anything his family needed. Somedays he wouldn't smile at all.

Then the prom happened in early May and it seemed as if new life had been breathed into him with Mercedes making an impact in his life. When something like that happened you had to hold on for as long as you could, make every second count - especially if you didn't know where you would be in a month's time.

"On you go," Dwight said, smiling as he waved Sam off, proud of the man he had become and the sacrifices he was continuing to make.

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><p>It was a lovely afternoon, it was warm and the sun was beaming down on them but neither Sam or Mercedes could find any words to say to the other. There had been a quick exchange of hello's and he had placed a kiss on her cheek but since then the ride to the lake had been quiet, too quiet. In an attempt to break the silence, Sam smiled at her and nodded to a stand outside of The Lima Bean as they passed.<p>

"Ice cream?" he asked. She looked at him, with a small smile. "My treat?"

"No, no, I can buy my-"

"I insist."

"Sam-"

"No buts."

She laughed and nodded. Sam pulled over and told her he'd back in a minute and he was true to his word, returning with two tubs of ice cream. He handed Mercedes both of them while he put his seatbelt back on and took the wheel again. He was surprised when, for a moment before he started the car again, she placed her hand over his before retracting it quickly as the car began again.

They reached the lake as the temperature seemed to increase even further. Sweltering, Mercedes insisted they sit under the shade of the biggest tree beside the water, one with a tyre swing attached. Sam complied and they each took their tub of ice cream over to the cool area. They continued to sit in a silence but it was easier now. Or as easy as it could be. Mercedes lay across his legs once she had finished her ice cream and sighed, not happy, but not sad, just somewhere in between. It sounded more frustrated than anything else. Sam smiled down at her and in an attempt to lighten the mood took a dab of his ice cream and placed it playfully on her nose. She looked startled at first but then giggled - the most precious sound he had ever heard - at his action. He bent down and kissed her nose and again she laughed.

"Perfect," he commented with a grin and she shook her head at him playfully as she lifted her head up and he bent down to kiss her on the lips - the kind of contact he had missed since last night. Was it weird for someone to become such an integral part of your life in such a short time? Was it odd that she had become so important to him and they were still so young?

His mind said _yes _but his heart said _not at all_. A dreamer through and through, Sam was more prone to following his heart and he deepened the kiss. She returned it, taking his face in her hands and they remained in that position for a couple of minutes before they broke away. He smiled lazily at her, that lopsided grin and she smiled back.

The silence was now more content. Was there really anymore to be said?

Mercedes stood up, stretched her legs and then turned to Sam, looking at him with a pondering look. He stood up as well and surprised her by taking her hand and putting his arm around her waist. "Dance with me?"

"There's no music," she remarked.

As if that would stop the boy in front of her as he started to sing a tune she knew incredibly well, and was surprised that he did too.

_"Ten minutes ago, I saw you, I looked up when you came through the door, my head started reeling, you gave me the feeling the room had no ceiling or floor. Ten minutes ago, I met you and we murmured our how do you do's,"_ at this point he twirled Mercedes, "_I wanted to ring out the bells and fling out my arms and to sing out the news." _With a dramatic flourish of his arms Sam did just that, while singing the song in an equally over the top fashion. Mercedes had to admit it made her laugh as he finished with, "_And I like it so well that for all I can tell, I may never come down again, I may never come down to Earth again."_

He brought her close to him but just as he was about to lean in for a kiss, she smirked and quickly made him twirl her as she began, "_Ten minutes ago, I met you and we murmured our how do you do's,"_ at this point he twirled Mercedes, "_I wanted to ring out the bells and fling out my arms and to sing out the news." _Looking at her in amusement, Sam wasn't watching where he was going, causing him to trip over the roots of the tree they had just been sitting under only moments ago, before their impromptu song and dance around the lakeside.

He fell and brought her down with him, as she landed beside him, also falling over roots as well. Sam breathed heavily as did she before they both turned over to see the other was alright, just covered in grass from the fall.

"Are you alright?"

She nodded and laughed scooting closer to him, cupping his cheek. "Cinderella, huh? You know the way to a woman's heart, Sam Evans."

He nodded back in response and gave a chuckle. "We found it on video at the store. It was cheap and the room only has a video player. Stacey fell in love with it immediately."

"Your sister has impeccable taste." Mercedes went to lay on her back and took Sam's hand in her own, linking their fingers together, gripping on as tightly as she possibly could. "Whew, that was exhausting." She fanned herself, and after a moment retreated back to the shade of the tree. Sam followed quickly afterwards.

Once he reached the tree an idea struck him. Taking out his car keys Mercedes looked at him oddly as he put one of the key chains in his hand and knelt silently at the tree.

"What are you doing?" she asked as she walked over to him.

He didn't reply, only continued whatever he was doing to the tree. She watched intently as he carved something. She realised as soon as she saw 'SE' followed by a small love heart. At a loss for words she put a hand to her heart as he engraved 'MJ' as well.

"So yeah, it's cheesy as hell-" he began but he never got to finish his sentence before he felt her lips upon his. And for the first time he was sure there were tears there. No, no, this wasn't the time for tears. He never wanted to see her cry. He broke the kiss quickly and started to rub small circles in her back.

"Hey, hey," he said to her, making sure he was looking in her eyes now, "I-I-" the words were there but there was an invisible barrier stopping him from saying them, those three words which, like it or not, would change everything. "I had the perfect day today. That dance there-that isn't our last one, alright? And this," he gestured to the tree, now forever marked with their initials, whether the world liked it or not. "this is for everyone to know that even if I can't be with you, I am _with_ you alright?" She nodded. Her hand was still over her heart, so he placed his there as well. "See, told you."

Looking down, she smiled, and it was a sad smile. "I-I-I had the perfect day too." She couldn't say the words either, not now.

It was the perfect day, one that they would remember and cherish forever.

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><p><strong>The song was meant to be a surprise so the disclaimer is here for it : I do not own Ten Minutes Ago from Roger and Hammerstein's Cinderella, one of my favourite movies of all time. I did cut a small part of it but that was for creative reasons.<strong>

**In addition, I put my own personal headcanon in there.**

**Anyway, Coral, I hope you enjoyed this! :)**

**Any prompts, just send them my way via PM or a tumblr message! Please please review! *hopeful smile***

**WickedSong x**


	13. The Great EvansJones Thanksgiving

**The Great Evans-Jones Thanksgiving,**

**Written by WickedSong.**

**Disclaimer/Note : In the first chapter. So this is for cominupr0ses and it's Samcedes hosting their first major holiday where there are quite a few mishaps and things do not go according to plan. I did use Thanksgiving, despite the fact I am not American and thus do not celebrate the holiday and plus, I don't know anything about cooking a turkey (although I did try googling it but I still didn't understand very well) so this could be all wrong. Hope you enjoy even if I am incredibly iffy about how well I managed to write this one. I'm following canon in this one as well so Mercedes only has the one brother as that is what canon implies (forever bitter we knew nothing of her family, RIB+)!**

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><p>Mercedes kept nervously peeking out of the window, while fluffing cushions on the couch, silently wondering whether the coffee table should be pushed over just a tad to the left and wondering why it was taking so long for everyone to arrive. She looked at the clock that hung beside the television and then down to her watch. She had accounted for the traffic on the holiday weekend, it would have been stupid to do otherwise, but her parents were still thirty minutes late. <em>Thirty one minutes late, <em>she noted, as the time now indicated it was 11.31AM.

She felt arms wrap around her as she pushed the curtains aside again, looking out. She didn't acknowledge her husband behind her until he placed a soft kiss to her cheek. "You're sort of sexy when you're stressed you know that?" he drawled in a more put on version of that Southern accent of his but it wouldn't work.

She didn't shake his arms off but she turned and kissed him, proceeding to smile sweetly. "After that time we were almost caught by your parents, there will nothing of _that _nature taking place in this house this weekend."

"What nature?" Sam asked, with that crooked grin as he leaned in closer.

She gave him a reassuring pat on the cheek. "You're pretty but not dumb. You know exactly what I mean. It's our first time hosting Thanksgiving, we do not want to leave that lasting impression with our families." He looked as if a protest was forming on his lips but she shook her head and turned back to the window, smiling as he kissed the top of her head.

"We've been married for nearly a year," he pointed out, thinking he was making a pretty fair point.

She continued her stake-out at the window, not bothering to turn around now as she replied in a teasing manner, "Well then, you should be able to keep it in your pants."

Sam laughed and she joined in, even though she was still stressed about how late everyone was running. That was one of the things that had made Mercedes sure that this was forever. He had this amazing ability to calm her, dispel the stress. He helped her just let it all go when it was something that, in a day's time, wouldn't matter.

Well, she hoped it wouldn't have to matter in a day's time if people weren't still running late.

"I think-" Sam said, as he craned his neck to get a better view of the window but Mercedes had already shot up and went to the door. He simply shook his head and went to join his wife as she opened the door and ran outside to hug her mother and father. Her brother Marcus was spending the holiday with his wife's family in Ohio but had sent a Thanksgiving Card on behalf of himself, his wife of five years, Krista and their newborn son.

Sam walked out, and was ambushed into a hug by his mother in law. "Hello to you, Mrs. J-Valerie." He quickly corrected himself, especially at the pointed look the smaller woman sent him. She had been trying, since the first time Mercedes brought Sam home, all the way back in that summer of 2011, to get the boy to call her by her first name. Sam had been reluctant at first but he had been getting better at remembering.

"Nice to see you too," Valerie said with a bright smile and a kiss to her son-in-law's cheek. She went to pick up her bags but Sam, in a true show of Southern hospitality dove for the bags and picked them up first, a smile on his face. Valerie nodded to him. "Thank you, Sam."

Dr. Jones walked over with the remainder of the bags, set them down and held his hand out. Sam took it and the older man pulled him into a one armed hug, chuckling fondly. "Still as scared I'm going to kill you as you were the first day we met," he noted.

Once out of the hug, Sam laughed along as well, a nervous one, high pitched, definitely like the scream/laugh he had produced the first time Dr. Jones had threatened to cut the arm off of the boy who broke Mercedes' heart. Apart from that the dentist seemed to have a soft spot for his son-in-law.

"Let me take those for you, Dr J-Steven." Dr. Jones had also been trying, maybe not for the same amount of time as his wife, to get Sam to call him by his first name.

Dr. Jones held his hand up as he took the bags. "I'm old, but I can still carry some bags without assistance." He nodded to the bags Sam currently held. "Why don't you focus on them right now?"

Sam nodded intently. "This way." He walked into the house, Steven right behind him, as Mercedes and her mother caught up, walking to the living room while Sam and his father-in-law walked up the stairs to the guest bedroom. Just as they deposited the bags Mercedes called from the bottom of the stairs that Sam's family had arrived.

Dr. Jones clapped his hands together and exited the room first. He turned to Sam. "Aren't you coming?"

"I said to Mercedes I'd check on a few things up here. Tell them I'll be down in a minute."

Once he had checked the room once over for anything that could cause a problem and was satisfied Sam made his way down the stairs to see his mother, arms open, ready for a hug.

"Mom! You look great!" Sam said as he walked into her arms and wrapped his own around her.

She held on for a few moments, she had always had problems letting him go, before pulling out of the hug and looking at him, pride etched upon her face. "So do you! So does this place!" She looked around, that gleam in her eye never leaving, obviously overjoyed for her eldest son.

"Where's Dad?" asked Sam as he took hugs from his sister and gave his brother a handshake which eventually turned into a one-armed hug.

"Oh you know your father," Mary Evans said with a disparaging look towards the still-open door. "Thinks he's still Superman and insisted he'd bring all the bags in."

Sam sighed and shook his head. "He shouldn't do that with his back."

Mary threw her arms up. "Be my guest and remind him of that." She was about the say something else but when Valerie came into the hallway, smiled brightly and hugged her in law.

As they caught up, and Dr. Jones also entered the conversation, Sam nodded to Stevie and Stacey to help him outside carrying the bags instead of their father. Dwight Evans had been fine up until a Thanksgiving game of family football had left him with a bad back just over five years ago. Since then he had tried to prove he was invincible but all this had ever done was make him feel worse in the end.

They seemed to arrive in time as Dwight dropped two bags on his walk up the driveway and looked down at them, as if his stern expression would force them up on their own.

"Stace, you help Dad in, Stevie, pick up the ones he dropped," Sam ordered and his siblings went about in their designated tasks, as Sam walked over to his father and took the bags he currently held out of his hands, even over his father's protests of how fine he was. The pain his face was contorted in made Sam sure that he was less than fine.

"Come on, Dad, Mom wants to kill you, let's not give her any more reason to," commented Stacey as she took his arm and walked into the Evans household with him, Stevie and Sam carrying the bags behind them.

They walked in to find Mary folding her arms at her husband as he smiled at everyone, pain still etched on his face. "Mr. Evans, come on, you can lie on the sofa," Mercedes said, with a compassionate expression as she took her father in law's arm and led him into the living room.

"I'll get the pain medication," Mary said as she looked around in her purse.

As the two women ushered the man into the living room he turned to Mercedes and scoffed. "And who's this Mr. Evans you speak of? Remember, you call me Dwight!"

Sam sighed deeply again for what felt like the millionth time. This was the _greatest_ way to start off the first Jones-Evans Thanksgiving, right?

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><p>From that point onwards it appeared things kept going down hill. First there was an issue as Stacey and Stevie argued over who would be taking the couch in the living room and who'd be sleeping on the floor, a fight quickly resolved by a stern Mary Evans as she threatened to send the both of them out in the garden with only a blanket each.<p>

This resulted in the teenagers coming to a compromise with Stevie taking the couch the first night and Stacey on Thanksgiving night. They'd be leaving the day after Thanksgiving anyway.

"And we still want kids?" Mercedes asked jokingly as she and Sam stood in the kitchen, as she rifled through the cupboards and fridge. "Because honestly I-wait, where's the-" she continued slamming the doors.

"Where's the what?" Sam asked trying to also look in the cupboards but she gave him a look that said 'step back or you won't live beyond this moment' and he did so, giving his wife room to look around for whatever it is she couldn't find.

"When did you go to the grocery store?" she asked.

"Three-four maybe-days ago," Sam commented and this caused Mercedes to glare at him, her arms folded.

"I asked you to go yesterday because you know your mom is lactose intolerant and my dad with his diabetes and-I asked you to do this!"

_Yesterday_, thought Sam, _shit_, that had been when he had went to do his own last minute Thanksgiving shopping.

He held his hands up in surrender. "It's fine, it's fine, I'll go to the store right now. It'll only take-"

"Forever in this traffic!"

Sam was already on his way out to the hall, Mercedes following behind him. He shrugged his jacket on, keys in hand and quickly kissed her forehead. "Now, just take this time to chill out, please?"

She sighed and took a moment to hug him, and temporarily her mind was dispelled of the stress of planning a family Thanksgiving.

"Make sure you pick up the-" Mercedes began as he walked to the car but he interrupted her before she could finish.

"Got it!"

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><p>After the three problems of the previous day Mercedes had began to believe that things were looking up on Thanksgiving day itself. That wasn't to say there hadn't been any mishaps in the run up to dinner. With seven in the house and only the two bathrooms there was major irritation between the members of the household in getting ready for the day, especially between the youngest of the guests, as Stevie and Stacey continued to clash.<p>

As she set the dining table, the entire family, minus Sam who was in charge of looking over the turkey, seated around it, she smiled proudly, glad that they had managed to get here at least. That was until Sam poked his head around the door and whispered for her - or tried to. She seemed to be oblivious to it, while his siblings, parents and in-laws looked at him funny.

"I think Sam needs something," commented Mary to her daughter-in-law and Mercedes perked up at this, turning around and giving her husband a 'what are you doing?' face which he returned with a 'I need you in here now' look of desperation.

She walked into the kitchen, saw the turkey, and then realised what the problem was.

"You _forgot_ to thaw it? How could you just _forget_?" she asked and then panic crossed her face. "How could I forget to thaw the turkey?"

"Now, now, don't pa-"

"If you're going to tell me not to panic," she began in a warning tone and this caused Sam to shut up as she inspected the turkey.

"So what do we do?"

"I have a hand saw in the garage, we could just," he imitated hacking the turkey to pieces and Mercedes resisted the urge to facepalm but knew it was about their only option.

"Fine," she agreed, "but just don't hurt yourself."

He went to the garage while she took the turkey and walked into the dining room, placing it on the table with the rest of the meal.

"Is everything okay?" Valerie asked, noting the stressed look on her daughter's face as she sat down. "Where did Sam go?"

"There was a bit of a...problem with the turkey."

"Problem?" Steven asked as he inspected it. "You didn't thaw this!"

Mercedes sighed. "And that is exactly why Sam went to get his hand saw."

"Now that is cool."

Mary gave Stevie a quick nudge in the arm for his comment.

Sam quickly emerged into the dining room, saw in hand and looked about ready to carve the turkey and get the hard part out of the way when Viola cleared her throat notably as did Mary, Dwight and Steven. Mercedes gave Sam a pointed look and he quickly gained a sheepish expression as he nodded in understanding.

"Dad, Dr. Jones, you want to say grace?" he asked looking at the other men who laughed.

"We're not hosting this are we son?" Dwight questioned, as he looked at his eldest, amusement written on his face.

"I guess not," Sam muttered and Mercedes gave him an encouraging nod of the head as he placed the saw gingerly on the table and took his seat. The whole table joined hands and Sam closed his eyes. "We thank you for the meal we're about to receive and ask that you bless us all. Thank you for this wonderful weekend and this wonderful family, together under the same roof. We also ask that you bless Marcus, Krista and Robert as they couldn't be here." He wondered if he should stop there but someone clearing their throat (it turned out it was his mother telling him to go on). "I'm thankful myself for my parents, who always showed me that everyday is just another day to get back up and try again, I'm thankful for the Jones', Valerie and Steven, who make me feel like another son (Mercedes squeezed his hand at this point), for my brother and my sister because even when things were at their bleakest they always brought me back and finally for my wife, Mercedes, who you brought into my life that one day years and years ago, until some corny crepe decorations, and never allowed me to look back. In Jesus' name, amen."

Everyone repeated this and opened their eyes.

Valerie smiled at her son-in-law. "Now that was a beautiful speech, Sam, thank you."

"The pleasure is all mine," he replied. "Now, I should try to carve this, shouldn't I?"

Mercedes nodded and with a facial expression that said she feared what he would do next but was also quite amused sat back in her seat, as did the rest of the family congregated at the table.

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><p>Sam stood outside the bathroom, tapping the door lightly. "I know it was sort of gruesome down there, are you sure you're not throwing up anymore." His carving of the turkey hadn't been the best and most expertly done and had ended in Mercedes rushing up the stairs to throw up. "Mercy, can you hear me?" She had been in there for at nearly ten minutes now.<p>

"I'll be out in a minute!" she called, her voice at least an octave higher.

Sam sighed. Everyone else remained downstairs to start dinner, which Sam had insisted Mercedes would want them to do. He stood by the door silently for a couple seconds longer before she poked her head around the door and beckoned for him to follow her inside. He looked at her quizzically.

"I thought we weren't getting up to anything while our-"

Once inside the bathroom, however, she pushed something into his face. It took him a moment of dazed confusion before he realised what it was.

_A pregnancy test._

With a positive - was that a _positive_ - result?

As if answering the unspoken question, with tears in her eyes, Mercedes nodded. Sam didn't know what to do or what to say. He could hardly think, all he knew was _baby, baby, baby._

They were having a _baby_.

He quickly took her in his arms and felt tears welling up in his own eyes.

"A baby."

"A baby," she repeated, like she was confirming its existence.

"No wonder you felt so stressed," Sam commented, with a smirk and Mercedes playfully hit him in the arm as she lay her head on his shoulder, still in his embrace.

"No, I think that was more to do with late family members, fighting among your siblings, your dad almost having to go to the emergency room, my husband almost killing us all with his stellar carving skills-"

Sam laughed heartily at this one and pulled her closer to him. "Well, it didn't go exactly to plan, did it?" He pulled out of the hug and hesitantly placed his hands over where, right now, their son or daughter (_a baby!_) was going to grow into this person they were going to meet in almost nine months.

Mercedes placed her hands over his own and looked down at them joined together. "A lot of things don't but they're still perfect, I guess."

He nodded in agreement.

There was a moment of silence before Sam swore he could hear Stevie cursing, Stacey laughing and the rumblings of an argument between the strong-minded teenagers.

He sighed but it was a happy sigh, like nothing could ever touch him again because nothing else mattered.

He took her hand in his own. "Come on, we have our perfectly imperfect Thanksgiving to get back to."

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><p><strong>This took me forever and a day and I'll tell you why! First, I had exams and they were stressful but they finished almost two weeks ago. So I started this and then hit a brick wall so to speak. There was just a barrier to writing that I came up against, sure I've done a few wee drabbles here and there but motivation was low. <strong>

**But I was determined this weekend and this is the, not very good in my opinion, result.**

**Please tell me what you think and cominupr0ses I really hope that I met your expectations for this *hopeful smile* And yeah, I took poetic license at the end, I'll admit because you didn't ask for that but I hope you don't mind :)**

**WickedSong x**


	14. Dashing

**Dashing,**

**Written by WickedSong.**

**Disclaimer/Note : In the first chapter. A prompt from box5angel, a greatly appreciated and avid reviewer so I was very happy to do this, who asked for one where Sam showed off his Letterman to Mercedes after getting it since he went through all that to get it and we never got her reaction to it. I hope it's humourous enough for you, haha!**

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><p>Thanks to various members of the New Directions and his detective work Sam had managed to deduce Mercedes' school schedule quite quickly once back from the winter break. That had been only stage one of his plan, his fight to get Mercedes back in his arms where he just knew in his heart that she belonged, just like he belonged in hers. It was one of the only places he had ever actually felt at home.<p>

Stage two of the plan had been the letterman jacket. He had spent time over the holiday quizzing Rory about what he knew about Mercedes' boyfriend but all he had ever had to say was that while he seemed intimidating he was actually a stand up guy, kind and caring from what he knew, and a star of the football team. That was the key then, Sam had thought, and in his mind it all connected and made sense.

She had dated Puck for a short time, had went on a date with Anthony Rashad from the football team, which had ended in her declaring to Kurt in glee club that if he ever meddled in her love life again she wouldn't be responsible for what would happen to his prized collection of Versace scarves. And now she was with Shane.

Out of those three dudes and himself Sam could only come to the one conclusion. The letterman. Of course she was attracted to it. Girls fell at the feet of the stud athletes, the ones whose talents saw them going places, and Shane definitely was one what with the full ride to Ohio State under his belt early on in the year. With his talent and opportunities he was basically set for life.

In comparision Sam looked kind of stupid. The dork who came back from Kentucky, where his family had just over the minimum to survive, to help his friends in a show choir competition and fight for the heart of the girl he still loved - who still loved him, he was sure of it. Then not to mention the stripping which had made its way through the McKinley rumour mill quickly, Blaine evidently not the only one silently judging him for his actions. He couldn't be ashamed of it though, he refused to, refused to let it define him now, because it was all he could've done.

Now he finally had the letterman and was waiting for Mercedes by her locker. She would just be coming out of Calculus he was sure as he leaned on the locker, one hand in the jacket pocket and another on the strap of his bagpack. What he found the most amusing was that girls walked by and actually looked twice at him again, like they had when he had first arrived at McKinley and had quickly been given the QB position. The brief period when he had been without had shown him the truth.

The jacket did attract the girls. This plan was foolproof.

The girls looked at him but he didn't look back, instead going over what he would say to Mercedes when he saw her.

"Sam, what are you doing here?"

"I go to school here, you know?" Sam replied with a smile when Mercedes arrived at her locker. He hadn't planned on her coming the other way to her locker but that was irrelevant now, she had only caught him off guard ever so slightly and his reply had been quick enough.

"I could never forget," was her reply, as she opened the locker door and put her books inside and took her bag. She closed her locker and he was still standing there, silently. She felt like asking what he wanted but then she noticed it. "Letterman jacket making all the girls go wild there, Sam?"  
>He presented the jacket without comment and did a spin in it as well. "Only matters if it works on one."<p>

She rolled her eyes, both at him and also at her own urge to laugh and nod. _Keep it together_, she told herself, as she began to walk and he joined her. "Well you do look dashing, well done on getting it," she complimented. "You always suited it, you know being one of the top jocks around here."

He waved his hand at her. "I don't care about that stuff anymore, you know that," he said emphaticality. "And I doubt synchronised swimming will make me a top jock?"

She nodded and stopped at the cafeteria doors. "Just, one thing," she said, stopping him in his tracks.

"Anything."

She shook her head momentarily because he looked so damn intense and serious and she was seriously resisting every urge she had when she looked into those smouldering green eyes. "You know that I...I liked you," she had to lie because saying the truth about what she felt was too painful, "for you, not the letterman. I never and will never care about that stuff."

"Really?"

Her eyes widened and she leaned against the wall. "You sound surprised by that?"

"Just the guys you've dated all..."

"All were guys I dated or _are dating_," she quickly added with a warning tone, "are that because of their hearts - any similarities in sport status," she gestured to the jacket, "are purely coincidental."

Sam pondered this for a moment, wondering what his next move would be. He looked at the jacket, the symbol, what he had worked so hard for. In the end it wasn't even about that, he guessed. It got to the point where swimming got so hard that it was all about doing anything and everything for her. "But dashing?" he asked with a sly grin.

Mercedes, caught off guard by the smile, quickly regained herself and nodded, before walking into the cafeteria hastily, not wishing for him to see the effect he had over her, "Very dashing."

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><p><strong>I do have another prompt half-finished which should have been posted prior to this one but I left that for now since it's for my dear tumblr friend basicallyrunalways and she's away for the week so I'll have that posted for the day she comes back.<strong>

**Anyway, you have prompts, leave them with me either in a PM or a tumblr message wickedsong . tumblr . com and I'll see what I can do for you :)**

**WickedSong x**


	15. Dear Diary

**Dear Diary,**

**Written by WickedSong.**

**Disclaimer/Note : In the first chapter. OK, so this is actually connected to my oneshot, 'Yours Truly' and it should make sense why by the end of the oneshot. Please go and read that because it will make the end make more sense. This is a prompt from ngawai who reviewed 'Yours Truly' and asked for a kind of follow up, or maybe something like a diary that Sam wrote when he was stripping and I liked that idea and decided to run with it. Hope this meets expectations and happy reading!**

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><p>Five months pregnant, Mercedes Jones-Evans was exhausted as she looked through box after box of the baby stuff she and Sam had had over the years. There was an old blanket of hers with spit up stains it, socks of his among cute dresses she would have worn and smart shirts of his. She laughed at some of the photos she came across, especially one of Sam having his first bath or one where he had a pair of trousers on his head as a hat. Mary and Dwight, as well as her own parents, had sent the boxes to their home in L.A. in preparation of their children's first child.<p>

"Now, look at this," Mercedes said to her bump, showing the pictures of Sam as a child. "Now this is how crazy your daddy is, baby, so don't think I'm wrong when I call him that, okay?" She laughed as she rubbed her bump and smiled fondly, still in some measure of disbelief that there was this little boy or girl - they had both decided to abstain from finding out the sex before the birth - growing inside of him, who would be a little bit of her and a little bit of Sam. A piece of both of them. It blew her mind.

She continued to look through the boxes but was surprised to find in one marked as one of Sam's a journal. It was black, compact and had doodles at the front of it. A baby book? A diary? Though she tried her best she couldn't resist the urge to find out so opened at a random page, completely missing the letter that fell out when she did so, focusing on the date.

_24.9.11_

_Finally out of the hotel, which means we're in our house right now. I know. A house. I didn't think we'd make it back to that after the hell that this last year has been but no, we've done it. Finally. Got a job at the DQ as well. Start on Monday, after school. The Evans' are slowly but surely moving on up._

She flicked through the pages, skim reading, and she came to the remarkable conclusion that this was a journal that Sam had kept during the time he had been in Kentucky with his family. How it ended up in that box she wouldn't know but she wanted to desperately ask him about it. He was working and wouldn't be home for a couple of hours though,

Sighing, she pushed the boxes away and crossed-legged, read another journal entry from earlier on that month.

_9.9.11_

_So I found out after Quinn and Stacey's chat that Mercedes has a new boyfriend. Yeah, a new boyfriend. Long gone and moved on, she is. All loved up, says Quinn. I'm 'so June', whatever that means, says Quinn. Watch JBI's new blog entry, says Quinn. Yeah, okay, so she can flaunt her happy love life in my face, okay, sure, yeah Quinn. Getting a headache and going to bed, I'll write in the morning, I just don't know what to say now._

Mercedes bit her lip and found the entry for the next day written underneath that one.

_10.9.11_

_Okay, my head is clearer this morning and I've decided that I don't care. It makes no difference to me whatsoever if she has a new boyfriend, whatever his name is. I may as well start facing up to the fact that I'm never going to see her again and that she's content to make 'cocoa babies' and marry this Shane guy, (if that's not even his name, I didn't watch the JBI blog post, I didn't!) so I'll be happy enough to find a pretty girl and marry her and live my life in Kentucky because this is my life now, without her. Fucking great!_

His words seemed to have this venomous edge and she could imagine him writing this, with conviction, with hurt, and anger. Most of all she could imagine him feeling a sting of betrayal. She reconsidered reading it now but her own curiosity won the battle. She continued going through the pages, learning what his school in Kentucky was like, learning about the one friend he made, Jason, before his own family moved and they fell out of contact. She read the entry talking about that in its fullness but was struck by the last sentence.

_19.10.11_

_It's the little kindnesses that people show you that make it all a bit better, gonna miss you dude, hope we stay in touch!_

To this day Mercedes couldn't recall ever meeting this Jason so she noted to ask Sam about it later.

It was when she got to November-time that she found the entries getting shorter and shorter until she came across one on a tear-stained page. That was enough to have taken her aback but she read on.

_30.11.11_

_It's for your family, Sam, it's for your family, Sam, it's for your family, Sam. It hurts but it's for mom so she won't cry, it's for dad so he doesn't have to work from 9 to 9, hence mom's crying, it's for Stacey so the girls don't laugh at the ragged clothes and it's for Stevie so he's not walking to school in scuffed and battered hand me downs. What's letting someone touch me _there _or have what they want if it means an extra dollar or two. _

There was a clench in her stomach that had nothing to do with her preganancy and her heart ached as she read these words, as he began to sound more desperate.

_I can't stop and I won't because I'm needed, my parents need me, my brother and sister need me. I can't even stop to think what it would do to mom and dad to find out, do to Stacey and Stevie when they're older to know their brother did _this_. I can only imagine what everyone back in Lima would think. I can already hear Santana's insults in my head but Mercedes...that's the worst. Because I don't know what she'd think at all. She'd probably look at me with those disappointed eyes and I'd try to deny it all but she'd see through me, walk back with her footballer boyfriend and forget I even existed without looking back._

She was roused from the journal and her emotional reaction, tears welling up in her eyes subconciously, by the sound of keys jingling in the door and then Sam calling out from the hallway. Looking to the clock Mercedes found that two hours had passed since she had first sat down with the boxes. She stood up, and journal in hand, walked out to greet him in the hallway.

Sam's smile was wide when he saw his wife but it dropped at seeing how upset she looked.

"What's wrong?" he asked. "Is it-"

She shook her head and instead showed him the book in her hands. Sam's mouth made a surprised 'o' shape and he took it from her, skimming through the pages with his thumb, his head down.

He was silent for a couple of moments. "Please say something?" asked Mercedes.

"I just..." he started but he couldn't find the words. "I just never thought..." He gave what sounded like a laugh but sounded like more of a cry and tears began to fill his eyes.

"Sam..." began Mercedes, walking towards him. She cupped his cheek, standing on tip toe, with her hand and forced him to look at her. She smiled at him, even through the tears that began to fall from her own eyes. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have..."

He captured her lips in his own, in a moment of urgency, that he needed her to tell him that this was real, that that time in his life was behind him, that uncertainty was behind him and what they had to look forward to was each other and the little girl or boy they were to be blessed with in four months time. She returned the kiss in order to tell him these things.

Once they pulled away they went to the living room, where a quiet Sam looked through the journal on his own while Mercedes ordered pizza for their dinner, before putting the boxes away in their bedroom despite Sam insisting he'd do it.

After their dinner was done, Sam put the journal on the coffee table and continued staring at it.

"It's not going to burst into flames, Sam," Mercedes commented, in an attempt to diffuse the awkward silence in the room. "So Jason, huh?"

Sam looked disturbed by the use of the name.

"One of my only friends in Kentucky," he confessed after silence. "He moved to Michigan though."

"Why did you never..."

"He died," Sam said, as casually as he could. "Car accident, when I was in senior year."

"You never said..."

He shrugged. "I never thought it was important."

Mercedes took his hands in hers. "It is, Sam. You are important, Jason _was _important, don't think that, everything you went through, it made you, you. It made you the man I'm in love with now. I wish you didn't have to do it, I wish you could've just stayed in Lima with me, and you wouldn't have had to face that..."

"But I did," Sam said to her, gently rubbing circles on her thumb, absentmindedly looking down. "And that's my burden to bear."  
>"That I'll share with you, that I've shared with you," she told him forcefully and he smiled, the first one since he had come home that day. She smiled back at him. She kissed his forehead. "I'm going to have some tea before I come to bed. Do you want some?"<p>

Sam shook his head. "I have that big meeting tomorrow and I'm tired," he confessed. "I think I'll just head up. That okay?"

She nodded and with one last kiss, Sam left the living room to go upstairs. Mercedes went to go to the kitchen but noticed something at her feet when she did so. A letter.

It wasn't addressed to anyone but it was in an envelope. _Strange_, she thought, as she went to open it up again, her curiosity again aroused by the faint yellow of the envelope. It was old and she wondered for a moment if it came from the journal.

Opening the letter she found that it did. And funnily enough it was addressed to her. She read it to find it had been one Sam had written her when he had been in Kentucky, one he had maybe been intending to send, at least she assumed, but then didn't for whatever reason. The first part was fairly standard, him asking how she was, how glee was, even how Shane was. He told her about the new house and how they were moving into it the next week. He told her that he would one day find his way back to her, like he promised. He told her more and she found herself crying silently as she read the moving letter he had composed, wondering what had held him back from sending it, if that had been his intention at all.

Later that night she crawled into bed next to Sam and gently touched his dirty blonde hair, running her hands gently through it, as she thought about how lucky she was, how lucky they both were.

She turned around and then felt his arms cradled around her, as she held his hand in her own closing her eyes and letting sleep take her.

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><p><strong>And I think this now gives an idea of why the first Samcedes baby was called Jason in my previous oneshots. <strong>

**I hope you enjoyed this oneshot and that I did your idea justice, ngawai. **

**Please review if you enjoyed and if you have any prompts for me please either PM me or tumblr message me at wickedsong . tumblr . com (no spaces) :) I should be back on Friday with a brand new oneshot based on a prompt :)**

**WickedSong x**


	16. Till It's Trending

**'Till It's Trending.**

**Written by WickedSong.**

**Disclaimer/Note : In the first chapter. Okay so this is based on a prompt from the fabulous basicallyrunalways on tumblr and it's a bit different because it's based on an image she sent me, of a letter which will be explained in the oneshot. If you'd like to see the letter she sent me I'm going to post it with the story when I upload the link to tumblr so head over to wickedsong . tumblr tagged / samcedes-fanfiction in order to see it (no spaces). Happy reading!**

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><p>Mercedes looked down at the letter in her hands, rolled up and tightened with an elastic band around it. Her mom smiled down at it and shrugged her shoulders as if she was silently questioning it as well.<p>

"Sam told me to give you it tonight," she explained. "Said you'd get it."

"Get it?" asked Mercedes with a confused look.

"Open it! Open it!"chanted Tina, Kurt and Quinn as they sat at the dinner table of the Jones' family home.

Sam and Mercedes' wedding, which had been a long time coming was to be held the next day where the pair would officially become man and wife. They had decided to have the service and reception in Lima, both because it was Mercedes' hometown and it was more or less Sam's now, even if they had been living together in L.A. for the past eight years, where Mercedes had achieved her dream of winning a Grammy for best newcomer and Sam had started to pursue his own dream of writing his own graphic novel, while working in architecture to pay the bills.

"Do you know anything about this?" When Tina shook her head she turned the question to the other two but they only shook their heads in response as well.

Quinn leaned over the table. "That is so Sam," she pointed out and then grinned. "Now come on, open it."

Mercedes did so, taking the elastic band off first and then unfurling the letter like a scroll, laughing at the words that were written on the page.

"What's so funny, dear?" asked Valerie Jones, as she began putting things away from the late supper she, the three girls and Kurt had parktaken in the night before the wedding, Mercedes understandably being a ball of nerves right now. She took the letter from Mercedes as her daughter took her phone out of her pocket and began to scroll through it, laughing again at something she saw.

While Mercedes was in her own world looking at her phone Valerie sat down in confusion at the letter, showing it to Tina, Kurt and Quinn.

The three of them laughed.

"What's so funny?" asked Mercedes' mother with a slight frown. "What can't I see?"

Kurt quickly jumped in with an answer. "Oh, it's nothing bad," he assured. "When we were in High School Sam was obviously trying to get Mercedes back in her senior year."

"One of his ideas," Quinn continued on behalf of the man, "was trying to get her to trend on Twitter."

Not one to use the internet often, Valerie nodded. "That's one of those social networking sites, right?"

"Yeah," Tina clarified. "Anyway, he tweeted during the week that they weren't supposed to be talking."

"What did he 'trend?'" questioned Valerie as she looked down at the letter, putting the word 'trend' into air quotes.

"That he thought I smelled good," Mercedes supplied from behind her mother, which made her face break out into this wide grin that everyone else in the room replicated.

Valerie shook her head, thinking of her soon to be son-in-law. "I always said he was a crazy boy, Mercedes," she warned her daughter. "So he was trending something else tonight?"

Mercedes sat down beside her mother and showed her the phone. "He got it trending," she told her, "somehow."

"Love of my life," Valerie said with a smile in her daughter's direction. "He's got it bad," she commented.

"I'd hope so," Kurt chimed in, "otherwise we've spent hours planning a wedding for nothing."

The five laughed at this comment and Valerie took this as an opportunity to look at the clock. "I know you're nervous sweetheart, and I understand," she turned to Mercedes and Quinn noticed that this would be the cue for herself, Kurt and Tina to give the mother and daughter some privacy. They shuffled out of the door quickly and quietly, as Valerie took Mercedes' hand in her own. "it's a huge commitment you're taking tomorrow but don't for a second think that you're making a mistake because there's no way in hell that I would let you get this far if you were, I promise."

"I know mom," Mercedes replied. Valerie kissed her forehead and smiled at her daughter, and looked back at the phone, smiling happily down at the craziness of a son-in-law she would have come tomorrow afternoon.

* * *

><p>"So how'd you do it?" asked Mercedes, during her first dance as the new Mrs. Evans. Her husband - it felt crazy to think she could actually call Sam by that title now, and that he could call her his wife - shook his head, refusing to give away that piece of information.<p>

"Superhero powers," he replied. She gave a laugh. "I love your laugh, you know that?"

"I'd hope so," she commented. He twirled her out and when they were close again she tip-toed up and pecked him on the lips. "Because you're going to be hearing it for the rest of your life."

"The rest of our lives," he amended and then he laughed as if to prove this point. He gave her a kiss in return this time.

"Come on, I have to know how you did it," she told him with a forcefulness. "You managed to trend something by _yourself_?"

Sam shrugged. "What can I say? I'm incredibly talented." He had a look of mock upset that she had insinuated otherwise.

Mercedes went to her next best tactic and gave him the best pout she could muster up, with her eyes wide and innocent. Sam cursed.

"You can't use that on me, woman, you know what it does to me," he said as he dipped her.

"Oh really?" she asked, an air of feigned innocence in her tone.

Sam grinned at her as they were back in the waltz position, 1, 2, 3 to the music, trying to avoid the ever-graceful Finn as Rachel gave him directions on how best not to stand on her feet. "Fine then," Sam conceded. "I got the guys to all trend it like crazy and then somehow it caught on, something to do with Finn being married to Broadway over there," he gestured his head in their direction, "then your fans got in on it and it became this thing. I didn't stop till it trended either though." He nodded.

Taking his phone out of his suit jacket she read through the tweets. "9 years ago I told her that we'd see her name in lights for the rest of our lives and tomorrow the rest of our lives begin. #loveofmylife." She gave him the phone and a suppressed grin. "You are cheesy as hell you know that?"

He wrapped her in his arms and bent down so they were face to face. "Yeah but you love it."

She could only nod as her husband - she was getting used to it each time she said it - kissed her, and she wrapped her arms around his neck savouring and remembering the moment forever.

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><p><strong>I hit a bit of an inspiration block toward the middle but then I managed to find a way to tie in the end and it worked out better than I thought in the end. Hope you enjoyed it Molly and if anyone has a prompt for me, I can be found by PM here or on my tumblr, (link at the top!)<strong>

**WickedSong x**


	17. To Soar

**To Soar,**

**Written by WickedSong.**

**Disclaimer/Note : In the first chapter. Prompt is from roothlace, who asked for Sam and Mercedes between SNG and S3 Prom. It references non-canon events from a previous prompt, 'All I Need Is A Sign.' Hope you enjoy, happy reading! :)**

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><p>Mercedes Jones wasn't a fan of taking huge risks, leaps of faith into an unknown that couldn't be determined. Her dreams had a mind of their own, they soared and flew to unimaginable heights but ask her to do herself and you'd be faced with a hesitance you wouldn't have previously expected. She wanted them, her dreams, to be real and tangible more than anything but it was as if the universe was telling her no, with her acceptance into colleges for more realistic ambitions and her father's insistence that being a singer was nothing to aspire to, with so much heartache and rejection to come with the knocking on doors, only to have them closed right in front of her face without as much as a word. She was all ready to do this, to just make her family happy and put them on the back burner for as long as she could resist the urge to chase them.<p>

And then Sam happened.

He had this wide eyed hope and wonder and belief that anybody could be what they wanted to be that he managed to rekindle the dwindling fire that had been her going after her dreams by posting that video of 'Mercedes Inferno' on YouTube. Granted, she hadn't been completely willing to give them up before that but the video, and the comments, only made her want it that much more.

That dilemma had inadvertenly led to her to her other more pressing issue. The relationship between herself and Sam. There had been moments where everything for them had seemed to fall back to where it was before their not-a-couple break up at Valentine's, before he had left even, with their kiss in the choir room after glee the previous week being a prime example. They had kissed again after he had shown her the video but the bell had interrupted them and she had scooted out of the class without a word.

They had both been damaged by his departure during summer, the road had been rocky since he had returned and now was when she was most terrified. When there were no more obstacles, just the two of them, face to face and ready. But was she ready?

She wasn't a fan of huge risks and letting him take up residence in her heart again seemed like too much of a big one, even if truthfully he hadn't ever left.

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><p>So it had been another two weeks of the would they, would they not, stalemate, and while they had had conversations here and there and maybe even traded flirtatous comments, a kiss or two, they still weren't in the stage of labelling themselves again.<p>

Walking down the hallway, her head on other things, Mercedes was brought to a halt by the buzzing of her phone. She checked to find a message from Tina, telling her to meet her in the auditorium quickly.

Mercedes sighed, wondering what the emergency could possibly be but hurried her pace, arriving in the auditorium.

"Tee, you in here?"

Her question was met with silence. She looked towards the stage and was reminded of the last time she had been summoned to the auditorium in that manner, by Sam when he had asked her to-

Wait, was that _Sam _there?

_Standing on the stage?_

And she could see-

_Tina_!

Standing _backstage_.

_That traitor_, she thought, with a scowl but her face instantly lit up as Sam noticed her and called out her name.

"I didn't know if you'd show up if I sent the text so..."

"I know."

She stood at the bottom of the stairs now and Sam held out his hand to her. Hesitance still called out to her, to stop this, to stop before she felt as strongly as she had before, but she shook that voice quickly.

In giving her dreams of being a singer a fair try, she had realised that she had to do the same for this. Sam, in the time he wasn't there, was one of her biggest regrets, her biggest what if so far, and she sometimes thought if he still would be if she had went through the entire year without him.

He helped her on stage and she looked around, and hands on her hips smirked at him. "I thought you said no more songs."

"No songs," he agreed, with a nod of the head. "A few words perhaps but not another song."

Mercedes laughed at the nervous way he stumbled around with his words and nodded at him encouragingly to continue. "Go on," she mouthed.

"Aha," he replied and then, after running a hand through his hair and looking to someone for support behind her, Mercedes didn't check, he began, "I know things have been shaky between us lately. And we're both to blame for that, me probably more so," he noticed her going to interrupt, "so let me finish."

She smiled fondly at the way he could read her mind. "Okay," she said softly in reply.

"And I know you go off to L.A. or wherever you decide to go in the next couple of months but you have a piece of me, you know? A piece that I never thought I'd be able to give away to anybody. It scares me actually."  
>She understood exactly how he felt and tried her hardest to communicate this thought with a nod, which he seemed to understood.<p>

"But I think we can make it. We didn't try before but the universe seems to be bringing us back to one another. Shouldn't we listen to it for once? I have two questions, one, will you be my girlfriend again? And two..."

It was then that he pressed the button in his hand and the lights on the screen behind the auditorium changed again, forming a word, similar to the way it had shortly before their first duet all those months ago.

Simply, it read, 'PROM?' in dancing lights.

"A little crazy?" Sam asked, with a smirk.

Mercedes pulled him closer to her, by holding onto his hand and laid her head on his shoulder as they looked up at the lights. "Yeah, but I love it." In the silence that followed Sam nodded, taking that as a yes, as he placed a kiss to the top of her head, there were muted cheers from backstage.

"Don't ruin the moment, you idiots!" hissed Puck.

"We have a crier," Santana helpfully commented.

"Yeah, I think it might be you," Tina was heard saying in a matter-of-fact, yet shaky, tone.

Mercedes laughed. "Wait," she said, "on one condition." Sam looked concerned but she grinned. "As long as you can still robot."

His laughter was music to her ears.

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><p><strong>Remember, leave me prompts for this in my PM or as a message on my tumblr (wickedsong. tumblr. com. (no spaces)). You can also submit some for my Fabang prompt story, 'Something Unpredictable' if those two are something you enjoy.<strong>

**Anyway, roothlace, hope I did your prompt justice :)**

**WickedSong x**


	18. A Father's Love

**A Father's Love,**

**Written by WickedSong.**

**Disclaimer/Note : For Fabulously-Fearless on tumblr, who asked for Future!Overprotective!Sam during the first hours/day of his and Mercedes' first child. I haven't updated this in a wee while and I apologise. I seem to be hitting more and more writer's block so this isn't very good, but hopefully you enjoy and hopefully I've done the prompt justice. It was kinda adorable to write, haha!**

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><p>"Are you two ready to meet your baby boy?"<p>

Mercedes gave a small gasp of surprise followed by tears of absolute joy, while Sam could only stare speechlessly as Dr. Maxwell held up their - _their_, a part of him and a part of her, a realisation that stunned him into his current silent awe - son, their boy, their baby, their child. He had imagined this moment a million times, before they were even expecting, before they were married even, while they were still dating in high school, and still all those daydreams didn't live up to this moment, when all that seemed to matter in the world was his beautiful wife and their amazing bundle of joy.

In his happy haze he failed to notice the world going on around him and was brought back to Earth by Mercedes tugging on his hand. He looked down at her and they shared a smile. He bent down so he was looking straight into her eyes and cupping her cheek, he leaned in close, giving her a gentle peck on the lips. "You did it. You're amazing, you know that?"

She gave a modest nod and a small chuckle.

Sam cut the umbilical cord and once washed up and bundled their son was passed to Mercedes, who immediately began to coo over him. Swathed in blue blankets he looked tiny. In this time, Sam took to the hallway to greet their family and friends anxiously awaiting news, along with Mrs. Jones and Quinn who had been in delivery with them. Quinn went to sit with Artie and smiled and nodded to him while with tears in her eyes, Mrs. Jones hugged her equally emotional husband.

"We have a grandson, Steve, a grandson," she said, repeating it over and over again, as if it wasn't real quite yet.

"He's a healthy seven pounds, four ounces, all ten fingers and toes." That was all Sam managed to get out before he himself began to feel tears of joy prickle his eyes. Mercedes had been in labour for a day and a bit and he hadn't left her side, running on pure adreneline when his body had tried to force him into sleeping hours and hours ago. He desperately needed a shower and something to eat but that all felt insignificant now. Someone hugged him, his mother, he guessed. He was proven right when Mary pulled out of the embrace and looked at him, with complete pride, her eyes sparkling.

"Our first grandchild, Dwight, our first-"

"I know, I know," Sam's father said his voice also thick with emotion. It seemed as if everyone gathered was crying or at least on the verge of tears, including Puck who insisted to a pregnant Lauren that it was his allergies and nothing more. Dwight walked over to his wife and eldest son. He placed a hand on his son's shoulder and his other hand in his wife's. "We're proud of you and Mercedes, so proud."

"Thanks, Dad." Sam said.

* * *

><p>In the intervening hours he was pulled into many hugs and congratulations as he received numerous phone calls about the good news. While everyone who had gathered when the news of the imminent birth had been spread around the group insisted Sam bring Jason - Mercedes had insisted on the name and Sam had been gobsmacked that she had remembered the significance of the only friend he had made during his brief stay in Kentucky - out to meet everyone, he had been hesitant, treading lightly, in case the smallest action could bring the worst consequences.<p>

However, after Mercedes convinced him, stating he was being overly paranoid and their son wasn't even a day old yet, he had taken Jason, still wrapped up in blankets, out into the lobby, where everyone stood, some speechless, like he had been, others made an 'aww' sound while Mr. and Mrs. Jones, along with his own parents burst out into fresh tears, as well as Tina, Mike standing with his arm around her and a lump in his throat. Kurt had immediately asked if he could hold him and while Sam had found it hard to let him go, he had, knowing that his son was in safe hands.

* * *

><p>Mostly everyone had left after asking for a couple of moments to hold the baby boy in their arms, and Sam walked back to the nursery, placing his son gently down in the crib. He stood over him for a couple of moments and then heard the soft patter of feet behind him.<p>

"I was just-"

"It's me."  
>He turned and smiled to see Mercedes, still looking exhausted but somehow stunning as usual, walking towards him. He held his arms out and she wrapped hers around him, as they both turned to face their own bundle of joy.<p>

"He's perfect, just like his father," she murmured, nuzzled into his chest.

"I think it's, 'he's perfect, just like his mama' but I'll take the compliment," Sam argued.

Mercedes shushed him quickly though, as she bent down to rearrange the blankets ever so slightly around Jason's body.

"Did I do it wrong?" asked Sam in a worried tone but she gave a soft laugh and shook her head.

"No, no, no," she said and to assure him, she kissed him. They gave one last look to their son. Mercedes pressed a soft kiss to her fingers and then placed them on his forehead while Sam smiled and spoke softly, both a declaration and a kind of promise.

"We love you, little guy."

* * *

><p><strong>Hey, you just read this, and this is crazy, I don't think it's very good but review it maybe?<strong>

**Sorry for the ref. to _that_ song, had to be done.**

**Anyways, please do review and tell me what you think and keep your prompts coming, got two really nice ones coming up next and hopefully they'll be updated quicker this time, haha! :)**

**WickedSong x**


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